According to the official figures available with the DGP's office here, 210 persons have been killed by the police since September 21, 1997, when Kalyan Singh assumed power in UP with a commitment to provide a bhaymukta samaj (societyrid of its fear). Unofficial figures, however, put the toll at nearly 300 and that too in the past three months, with an average of more than three encounters daily.

The police went on an encounter spree three months ago when the law & order situation had reached to an all-time low, forcing the Chief Minister to issue directives to deal with criminals with an iron fist.

This set off a mad race among policemen all over the State to eliminate the maximum number of ``criminals'' and earn a pat on the back from their superiors.

``There is total anarchy in Uttar Pradesh. Innocent people are being killed by the police in fake encounters while the real criminals are moving around freely,'' Congress legislator from Rae Bareli Akhilesh Singh told The Indian Express.

J S Pandey, IG (Crime), however, claims all the cases were of real encounters. ``The figure is not alarming if you go by the size of the state and the number of criminals. Lakhs of persons are jailed every year in UP,'' he said.

The policeversion is belied by the case of Rae Bareli district's Rajendra Sonker (32), tailor, who was picked up by the police around 10 pm from his house on the night of August 5 supposedly for interrogation. There is no trace of him since. His wife, Chedana, sent a fax message to the human rights commission alleging that her husband has been killed by the police and there was no trace of his body. Demanding a CBI probe into the incident, she has also demanded security for her family because the local police had threatened them with dire consequences if they complained to anyone. If no action is taken against the policemen, she will go on a fast-unto-death before the residence of the chief minister.

The mother of Sanjay, the minor who was killed in a controversial encounter in the same district on July 31, is going on an indefinite fast at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi here to seek ``justice''. The Congress has backed her and party leaders will be joining her to ``highlight police brutalities againstinnocents''.

These killings have revived memories of the period during the chief ministership of V P Singh when nearly 300 criminals were gunned down in the state in a year.