BHOPAL
The arrest of Vikas Dubey in Ujjain has kicked off a storm in political corridors of Madhya Pradesh. While BJP leaders commended the state police, the Congress and other parties termed it a "stage-managed drama".
Soon after law caught up with the gangster, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "Those who feel that going to Mahakal temple will help them wipe out their sins know nothing about Mahakal. Our government will not spare any criminals." Home Minister Narottam Mishra termed the arrest an "achievement" and said that the police were on high alert.
Ex-CM Kamal Nath, however, smelt a rat and demanded a high-level probe into the Dubey episode. He said that a wanted criminal of UP surrendered in an MP temple by calling the police. During the Congress rule, criminals left the state. In BJP rule, criminals of other states are finding MP a haven, he said.
Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh questioned claims of the BJP and asked, "It is a staged surrender to save him from encounter. From information available to me, it happened with blessings of a senior leader of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh." Senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi sought a CBI probe to unravel the truth.
State Congress media president Jitu Patwari said that Dr Narrotam Mishra was in-charge of Kanpur area, during UP state elections and now the wanted criminal of UP came to MP and surrendered. "What a coincidence".
'Relentless pressure by UP led to arrest'
UP's Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said that relentless pressure exerted by the state's police compelled Dubey's UP.
Dubey's mother added to the debate when a clip on social media purportedly showed her saying, "Presently, he is not in BJP. He is in the Samajwadi Party. Nobody knows what will happen. All those who forced him to do so, will save him. Mahakaal saved him because he is a devotee of him and every year he goes there in Shravan to offer puja".
Dubey's wife, son picked up for questioning
Richa Dubey, wife of gangster Vikas Dubey, was picked up from her Lucknow house on Thursday evening by a team of the Special Task Force (STF) and taken to an undisclosed destination for questioning. Dubey's elder son and one servant were also picked up by the STF. Richa is said to be Dubey's partner in crime by supporting his activities and even providing logistic support to him. Said to be a part of the conspiracy that led to the killing of eight policemen in Bikru village on July 3, she had connected her mobile to the CCTV camera installed in their now-demolished house in Bikru village to keep an eye on the activities there even in her absence.
Richa had gone missing immediately after the massacre.
Snap poll: 84% say
don surrendered
The arrest of Vikas Dubey hundreds of kilometres away in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain makes the maximum number of people believe that it was a surrender, as per an IANS-CVoter Snap poll. On a question as to what does the arrest of Dubey in Ujjain prove, almost two thirds or 66.7% of the respondents of the poll said that this shows UP Police's inefficiency.
Dubey surrendered because he feared he would be killed in an encounter, said the respondents. The poll had a sample size of 1,500.
