Lucknow, Feb 3 (IANS): Four members of a criminal tribe gang from Rajasthan were arrested here in after an encounter with the police early Saturday, an officer said.

The arrested men were said to be part of the notorious Bawaria gang from Bikaner that has been committing dacoities in the state capital over the past few weeks, striking at three places and killing two.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Lucknow Deepak Kumar said two of the dacoits were injured in the gun battle.

They have been identified as Manoj aka Chotu and Mahendra. The other two arrested have been identified as Rajesh aka Patella and Ramesh.

Kumar said the four were part of a gang that had struck at houses in Kakori, Chinhat and Malihabad between January 18 and 22.

A combing operation by the police was underway to find Ramdeen, Kalia and Dayaram, who were on the run.

The police also recovered a 12-bore gun and several country-made pistols, along with some live cartridges.

An officer said that after committing the crimes, the gang members had fled to Bikaner, Jhunjhunu and Anwar in neighbouring Rajasthan.

When the Lucknow Police raided their hideouts they came back to the city here "to challenge the police". But a police encounter at Gangakhera disrupted ther plans.

Only a day back, the state government had transferred Inspector General of Police (Lucknow) and the Additional Director General of Police (Lucknow) for their failure to control the spiraling crime figures.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was particularly miffed at the spate of dacoities in the state capital and had reportedly warned the Lucknow SSP to crack the cases at the earliest or face the axe.