The special task force of the Uttar Pradesh police shot dead Sachin Pahari, the main accused in the Meher Bhargava murder case, and his accomplice in an encounter at Madion on the outskirts of Lucknow on Saturday morning.

On getting information that Pahari and his three associates were camping in Lucknow, the STF sleuths laid a trap and intercepted all four of them, who were riding two motorbikes on the busy Sitapur road, STF sources said.

On being challenged, they fled towards Indian Institute of Management, opening fire on the police team, which retaliated, they said.

While Phari and his accomplice Vikash were killed in exchange of fire, two others managed to escape, the sources added.

Pahari had been absconding since the murder of Meher Bhargawa, wife of senior UP Congress leader Lov Bhargawa, and was injured in an encounter with police in Quisarbagh police area last month.

Vikash Kanoujiya, who was killed along with Pahari in the encounter, was a resident of Kanpur and wanted in several cases of extortion, loot and kidnapping, the sources said.

Meher Bhargawa was shot at and seriously wounded near the residence of a Senior Superintendent Police at Lucknow on February 28 last when she protested against some lewd comments allegedly made by Pahari and others, against her daughter-in-law.

She was rushed to a super-specialty hospital in Delhi, where she succumbed to her injuries on March 25 last.

Her death evoked massive protests from various social and women organisations across the country.