LUCKNOW, June 24 -- A serial rape accused, Satpal alias Sattu, died nearly 12 hours after he was shot during a police encounter in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, police said on Tuesday. He carried a reward of Rs 25,000 for his capture Satpal, a Punjab native who had allegedly been hiding in Muzaffarnagar and nearby districts after escaping from Ludhiana jail in February this year, was injured during an encounter with police and the Special Operations Group late on Monday night. According to police, the encounter took place around 11.25 pm on the Bamanheri-Roorkee road when a joint team was checking vehicles and spotted a suspicious car bearing a Punjab registration number. Police said the driver tried to flee after being signalled to stop, following which the team chased and surrounded the vehicle. Senior officers said Satpal abandoned the car and opened fire on the police team. Two constables were injured in the firing. In retaliatory firing by the police, Satpal sustained two bullet injuries - one in the leg and another above the waist. He was arrested at the scene and admitted to the hospital around 11:40 pm. Police said his condition deteriorated suddenly on Tuesday and he died at around 1 pm, roughly 12 hours after the encounter. Doctors attributed his death to excessive blood loss. Muzaffarnagar police said Satpal was a serial rape accused and had allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted at least six girls since February after fleeing jail. In the latest case, police said he had allegedly kidnapped a minor girl from the Civil Lines area on June 19 on the pretext of arranging a job, took her to Punjab and raped her before abandoning her later. SP City Amrit Jain said a case of abduction of a minor girl had been registered on June 19, following which 10 special teams were formed to trace the accused. During the investigation, police scanned footage from nearly 1,000 CCTV cameras and used surveillance inputs to track his movement. Police said Satpal, a resident of Ram Darbar in Chandigarh, had a long criminal history and was wanted in multiple serious offences, including murder, robbery, rape and abduction. He was also allegedly associated with the Chhota Rajan gang and had more than 24 criminal cases registered against him across three states. Police had recovered a .32 bore pistol, cartridges, a fake Aadhaar card, a mobile phone, the car used in the crime and a pair of gold earrings belonging to the kidnapped girl from his possession, officials said....