Police acted on a tip-off to demolish UP gangster Vikas Dubey's home (Representational)
Police officials have recovered 15 live bombs, two kilograms of explosives and six pistols from the home of Vikas Dubey, the notorious Uttar Pradesh gangster accused of the cold-blooded ambush and murder of eight cops on Friday.
The fearsome array of weapons was found after Kanpur district authorities and police officers demolished a house in Bikru village, where the bloody encounter took place, belonging to Dubey.
The village is around 120 km from state capital Lucknow.
"Yesterday (on Saturday) we received a tip to search Vikas Dubey's house. We acted on this information and recovered six pistols, 25 cartridges and 15 live bombs, as well as two kilograms of explosives, nails and raw material to build more," BK Srivastava, Superintendent of Police (Rural, Kanpur), said.
The tip-off had said Vikas Dubey had built a bunker built at his home "where the weapons have been concealed in the walls".
"Dubey's mode of operation was like that of Naxals or Maoists and his entire network is deep-rooted," Mr Srivastava added.
Some details of that "deep-rooted" network came to light today after data from Dubey's mobile phone listed 20 police officers. There was also evidence of constant contact with at least two cops, including one from the Chaubeypur Police Station - the same police station from which phone calls warning him of a raid were allegedly made.
Vikas Dubey is the main accused in the murder of eight UP cops on Friday
Vikas Dubey, a criminal with over 60 cases against him (these include murder, kidnapping, extortion and rioting), remains on the run, more than 50 hours after he led his henchmen in the murder of the eight cops, including a Deputy Superintendent.
Early Sunday morning police arrested an alleged accomplice - Daya Shankar Agnihotri - after a gunfight in the Kalyanpur area. Agnihotri told the cops Dubey had received a tip-off about the raid from someone within the Chaubeypur Police Station.
The ranking officer of that police station has been suspended and is being interrogated. All staff are also being investigated, Kanpur police chief Mohit Agarwal told news agency ANI.
An extensive manhunt has been launched for Dubey, who has political links.
Over 25 police teams have been formed and these have searched more than 100 locations in the past 48 hours. "Wanted" posters have also been put up at check-posts along the India-Nepal border.
The cash reward for information leading to his arrest has been doubled to Rs 1 lakh, with assurances that the identity of the tipster will be kept secret.