Lucknow, May 20: Sachin Pahari, the key accused in the murder of Meher Bhargav, and one of his associates were killed in a shootout on a road after their getaway vehicle was intercepted and chased.

Meher, the 50-year-old wife of senior Congress leader Luv Bhargav, was shot in Lucknow on February 28 for protesting when Sachin and his gang of four teased her daughter-in-law. She died in a Delhi hospital a month later.

Today’s encounter comes after Uttar Pradesh police faced a barrage of criticism during the month-long investigation into the case. Leading politicians, including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had said the CBI should step in.

Officers of a special task force (STF) and Lucknow police got a tip-off last night that Pahari, 21, and his associate ? identified as Vikas Kanoujia, 20 ? were to leave for Sitapur at the crack of dawn.

At 4.30 am, a posse of policemen reached the IIM Lucknow-Sitapur Road crossing and began to check vehicles.

About 45 minutes later, the duo showed up on a motorcycle, on which Sachin ? wearing jeans, shirt and sneakers ? was riding pillion. “We quickly identified him. We asked them to stop but the two suddenly accelerated and began to fire. We chased the vehicle and the police began to fire in retaliation. Soon, both lay dead,” Vijay Bhusan, the STF superintendent of police who led the encounter, said.

While Sachin carried a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head for Meher’s murder and several other crimes, Vikas was allegedly involved in the abduction of an industrialist in Kanpur, the police said.

On the afternoon of March 29, the police had said that Sachin escaped after an encounter in which he was shot at. One of his aides, Sunny Rawat, was arrested then during raids in Lucknow’s Quaserbag area.

Sunny first told the police that he had shot Meher but later changed his statement to say it was Sachin who had fired from his revolver when she threatened to call the police.

Luv today said he would breathe a sigh of relief now that his wife’s killer is dead.