New Delhi:
The year was 2011. What began with the theft of motorcycles soon spiraled into a much darker criminal journey. Over the years, he graduated from petty crime to more serious offences, cycling through arrests, jail terms and bail, only to return to the streets each time.
But it was after 2023 that his sense of invincibility appeared to grow and he managed to conduct several heists in Azamgarh. Having managed to stay beyond the reach of law enforcement for nearly three consecutive years, the 38-year-old operated with increasing confidence, evading repeated attempts to track him down and cementing his reputation as a fugitive who seemed untouchable. Until 2026 June, when the Uttar Pradesh Special gunned him down in an encounter last evening. He was declared dead in the hospital.
A string of murders and robberies across Noida, Ghaziabad, Jaunpur and other districts had put Uttar Pradesh’s law-and-order machinery on high alert. With Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directing a crackdown on contract killers and professional shooters, one name repeatedly surfaced in police dossiers — Bhanu Pratap Singh, described by investigators as among the state’s most notorious hired assassins.
According to police officials, Singh’s journey into crime did not begin with high-profile killings but with petty offences carving into as many as 41 cases. “His rise began with thefts and robberies. He functioned independently. He has criminal records spanning more than two decades,” a senior police officer told NDTV.
What makes his trajectory striking, investigators say, is that it did not emerge from a family steeped in criminality. His father earned a livelihood as a farmer, a senior officer said. Yet over the years, Singh allegedly built a feared reputation in Uttar Pradesh’s criminal landscape, graduating from street-level crimes to becoming a wanted contract killer with dozens of cases registered against him.
As per his criminal dossier, seen by NDTV, his first brush with the law was a theft case. In 2013, he was again booked for another theft before moving on to murders in 2013 when the first murder case was lodged against him in Gorakhpur’s Belghat. In 2016 and 2018, twice, he was booked under the state’s Gangster Act as well but that didn’t stop him. He continued with his spree of robberies and killings.
Police officials say Bhanu Pratap Singh eventually moved from robberies and thefts into the far more lucrative world of contract killings, where violence became a
“Like most contract killers, Bhanu Pratap also operated as a hired gunman. He would carry out killings for money and receive payments for executing targets,” a senior police officer said.
Investigators allege that as his reputation grew in criminal circles, so did the demand for his services, turning him from a local offender into a feared contract killer whose name surfaced repeatedly in murder investigations across Uttar Pradesh.
The dossier paints the picture of a hardened repeat offender. It lists a string of cases against Bhanu Pratap Singh, including charges under the Arms Act, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotroal intimidation, murder and attempted murder. Over the years, investigators say, his name surfaced in a wide range of violent crimes, making him a familiar figure in police records across multiple districts.
The scale of the hunt for Singh was reflected in the rewards announced by multiple police units. Azamgarh Police had declared a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to his arrest, while Ambedkar Nagar Police had separately announced a reward of Rs 50,000. Gorakhpur Police, too, had placed a reward of Rs 15,000 on him, taking the cumulative bounty on the contract killer to Rs 1.65 lakh.
One of the cases that brought Bhanu Pratap Singh back into sharp focus once again was the murder of Pati Raj Yadav, a milk trader, in October 2025. Investigators describe it as a carefully planned, high-profile killing allegedly carried out for a contract amount of around Rs 4 lakh, of which Singh is believed to have received about Rs 1.5 lakh advance.
What stood out to investigators was the meticulous planning. Police say Singh avoided using mobile phones during the operation, keeping devices switched off to leave behind no digital trail. He worked mostly alone and kept changing associates from time to time. In Yadav’s murder, he fired two bullets and disappeared before law enforcement could close in.
Officers say Singh frequently changed associates, making it difficult for police to map his network. He was equally careful about his movements, constantly shifting hideouts between Gorakhpur and Maharajganj and rarely staying in one place for long.
By then, he was already a wanted man with rewards announced for his arrest by multiple police units, including a Rs 25,000 bounty from Maharajganj Police. Investigators believe he relied on a mix of country-made firearms and pistols, weapons that became a recurring feature of cases linked to him.
