Dreaded Indian bandit Nirbhay Gujjar shot dead

Nirbhay Gujjar, armed with automatic weapons and boasting a flamboyant handlebar moustache, had wreaked havoc in the rough ravines of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh for more than a decade.

He kidnapped small traders and affluent farmers, killing them if ransoms were not paid, police say. Gujjar, who was about 50, was shot dead by a police special taskforce (STF) in Uttar Pradesh on Monday.

"We were keeping a close watch on his movements and as soon as we had confirmed knowledge about him, we rushed an STF team and they finally got him," state police chief Yashpal Singh told Reuters.

The country's most notorious bandit in living memory was Phoolan Devi, dubbed the "Bandit Queen", a low caste woman who took to the gun after being gangraped by upper caste men.

She surrendered after years of terror and went on to become a member of parliament before being gunned down outside her official Delhi residence in 2001.

Another famous villain, or dacoit, Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, who smuggled ivory and sandalwood, was shot dead last year after a hunt lasting decades in the thick jungles of southern India.