Lucknow, July 17 - A man wanted for the murder of a police inspector and in over a dozen other cases was shot dead here by police early Friday, an official said.

The shooting took place in the posh Hazratganj locality, barely 500 metres from the residence of a deputy inspector general (DIG) of police.

'Gaurav Gupta shot dead police inspector Jitendra Tevatiya in Lakhimpur Kheri July 10 and was absconding since then. A police team from Lakhimpur Kheri traced him to Lucknow and assisted by our team were following him since yesterday,' Lucknow DIG Prem Prakash told reporters.

The team cornered him near the National College in Hazratganj at about 4 a.m. and asked him to surrender but he responded by firing.

'He opened fire and was killed in the return of fire,' Prakash said.

The police recovered a 9 mm English pistol and a country made pistol from the spot. However, one of Gupta's aides, who was driving the motorcycle, managed to escape.

Gupta carried a reward of Rs.10,000 on his head.