Uttar Pradesh gangster Vikas Dubey, who was behind the cold-blooded killing of eight policemen last week, was arrested this morning from a temple in Madhya Pradesh after a nearly week-long chase involving the police across three states. He was caught in Ujjain around the same time two of his aides were killed in separate encounters in UP. His closest aide, Aman Dubey, was killed yesterday.
Vikas Dubey was seen buying prayer offerings at Mahakal temple around 8 am, according to the police. A shopkeeper recognized him and reportedly alerted security guards, they said. When he emerged from the temple, the guards questioned him.
He first tried to mislead them by producing a fake ID card of a much younger man. When prodded further, he hit out at the guards, who dragged him to the police station.
Eight policemen were killed on Friday when they went in a large team to arrest Dubey at his village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur.
Dubey - charged in 60 criminal cases including murder, kidnapping, extortion and rioting - had allegedly been alerted to the raid by local policemen and had set up an ambush. When the policemen reached the village, Dubey and his men, armed with AK-47s, fired from rooftops.
The notorious gangster escaped after the massacre. A massive hunt was launched and the bounty on him was raised to Rs 5 lakh.
Here are the updates on UP gangster Vikas Dubey:
Sarla Devi, the mother of gangster Vikas Dubey, who is the main accused in the murder of eight policemen in an ambush in Kanpur, said that she found out about her son's arrest through TV reports.
A relative of DSP Devendra Mishra, who was among the eight polimen killed in the Kanpur ambush, questioned the arrest of gangster Vikas Dubey, claiming it to be a "well-planned surrender" and that the gangster was "saved from death", reported PTI. The relative was apparently referring to the deaths of Dubey's five alleged accomplices in encounters with the police. "This is not an arrest but he has been saved from ''death''. It was a surrender made in a well-planned manner," Kamalkant Mishra, the brother-in-law of killed police officer Devender Mishra told reporters. "Nobody can compensate our loss but if the criminal has been arrested, it is a source of satisfaction for us," he said, adding, "I do not think that it is the end of the story rather, this is just the beginning".
BSP President Mayawati on Thursday asked Uttar Pradesh government to take strict action against not only gangster Vikas Dubey, who along with his aides killed eight policemen last week in an ambush in Kanpur, but also against his patrons in the government and politics, reported PTI. The people of UP and the country are waiting for the government to expose all the criminal nexus and 'mafiyagiri'' of Vikas Dubey, "the dreaded criminal following his arrest after a long struggle by the Madhya Pradesh police", said Mayawati in a tweet. "The public is also waiting for the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure strict punishment at the earliest to all the government and political patrons and conspirators connected with Vikas Dubey in his heinous crimes," she said in another tweet.
Another aide of the Kanpur encounter accused Vikas Dubey, Bahua Dubey, died in an encounter with the police in Uttar Pradesh's Ettawah on Thursday, reported ANI.
"Today at around 4.30 AM, in an encounter with the Etawah Police, one person has died. from him, a rifle and a pistol too has been recovered. When we shared the information with the Kanpur Police, they identified him as Bahua Dubey," said SSP Etawah Akash Tomar.
"He was involved in the Kanpur encounter along with Vikas Dubey and there was a bounty of Rs 50,000 on him," he added.
"Around 3 AM on the highway near Mahewa Police Station Bakewar, a Swift Dzire car was looted by four armed assailants on a Scorpio. Around 4:30 AM, they were intercepted at Kachaura road under Police Station Civil lines by the police. When police parties chased them, the car collided with a tree, and criminals started firing at the police," he further said.
Bahua Dubey sustained injuries during the encounter and was pronounced dead when taken to the hospital. However, the other three managed to escape. One pistol, a double-barrel gun, and several cartridges have been recovered, he informed further.
Earlier today, Prabhat Mishra, also an aide of the main accused, died after being shot at by the police.
Prabhat Mishra had sustained an injury on the leg after being shot at by the police and was rushed to a hospital before being pronounced dead.
In police custody after a dramatic chase that ended at a temple this morning, Uttar Pradesh gangster Vikas Dubey shouted out "Main Vikas Dubey hoon, Kanpur wala!" The notorious criminal, charged in 60 cases including murder, made the startling admission after five days of running from the police, driving from UP to Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh after the Friday massacre in which eight policemen were killed.
Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Abhishek Mishra on Wednesday refuted reports which claimed that the wife of wanted gangster Vikas Dubey was a lifetime member of the party, reported ANI.
"Richa Dubey, wife of the history-sheeter Vikas Dubey has never been a part of our party. She was never an active member of the party. She had never contested election on SP symbol," Mr Mishra said.
The SP leader also rubbished "documents" purportedly showing Sonu alias Richa Dubey had taken a lifetime membership of the Samajwadi Party after paying Rs 20,000 in 2015 and she has attended the party functions and was involved in propagating and disseminating the policies of the party.
There is also a "application form" for panchayat polls to Kanpur (rural), which shows Richa Dubey contested Zila Panchayat elections in 2015 on the SP symbol.
Mr Mishra told ANI that the documents were fake and could be a creation of the IT cell of rival political parties.
कानपुर के जघन्य हत्याकांड में यूपी सरकार को जिस मुस्तैदी से काम करना चाहिए था, वह पूरी तरह फेल साबित हुई।
- Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) July 9, 2020
अलर्ट के बावजूद आरोपी का उज्जैन तक पहुंचना, न सिर्फ सुरक्षा के दावों की पोल खोलता है बल्कि मिलीभगत की ओर इशारा करता है...1/2
I salute&congratulate Madhya Pradesh Police on the arrest of Vikas Dubey. We were also on alert. If he had come here, we would have also nabbed him. He didn't come to Bihar because I had said that if he comes here, he will not be able to escape: Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey pic.twitter.com/NhObdJMwrP
- ANI (@ANI) July 9, 2020
योगी सरकार विकास दूबे से मिली हुई है सरकार के दम पर इस दुर्दान्त अपराधी का मनोबल इतना बढ़ गया की इसने 8 पुलिसवालों की निर्मम हत्या कर दी जब पूरे देश में योगी की थू-थू होने लगी तो गिरफ़्तारी का नाटक किया गया, योगी सरकार के रहते इस दुर्दान्त का कोई कुछ नही बिगाड़ सकता।
- Sanjay Singh AAP (@SanjayAzadSln) July 9, 2020
ख़बर आ रही है कि 'कानपुर-काण्ड' का मुख्य अपराधी पुलिस की हिरासत में है. अगर ये सच है तो सरकार साफ़ करे कि ये आत्मसमर्पण है या गिरफ़्तारी. साथ ही उसके मोबाइल की CDR सार्वजनिक करे जिससे सच्ची मिलीभगत का भंडाफोड़ हो सके.
- Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 9, 2020
Notorious gangster Vikas Dubey, the main accused in the ambush and killing of eight policemen in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur last week, was spotted at a temple in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain this morning by a security guard and his team members in a CCTV camera footage."