Our Correspondent
Lucknow
Kanpur don Vikas Dubey, whose henchmen gunned down eight UP Police personnel last Friday, was 'spotted' at a hotel in Haryana's Faridabad Tuesday night. Yet, he allegedly gave the police the slip. The police have now raised the bounty on his head to Rs 5 lakh.
Reports emerged on Wednesday evening that the notorious man would “surrender” himself at a news channel in Noida. The reports heightened the curiosity among the public and tension among the political circle. A Hindi TV channel head even tweeted, urging other channels not to glamorise the don by allowing him to sit in a studio.
“Dubey along with two aides had reached Faridabad July 5 only. He stayed with his relative Ankur there for a day and then shifted to an OYO hotel. The Haryana police team tracked down Ankur and learnt about the hotel. By the time cops reached there and raided the hotel the don had already fled,” a source claimed.
Vikas’s photo from a CCTV footage went viral Tuesday night. Many people believed that the don would be caught now. The photo was allegedly taken from the CCTV installed at the hotel lobby.
Faridabad police took three people into custody at the hotel. Many believed that one of the three had similar body-built as Dubey.
Two senior policemen—Vinay Tiwari and KK Sharma—posted at chaubepur thana of Kanpur have been arrested for allegedly being an informer of Dubey.
Earlier in the day, the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) killed an aide of the gangster. He is the third member of Dubey's gang to be killed in an encounter with the police. “Amar Dubey, who carried a reward of Rs 25,000, was killed in an encounter in Hamirpur district,” STF chief Amitabh Yash told the media.
The police had earlier killed criminals Prem Prakash Pandey and Atul Dubey in an encounter in Kanpur on Friday.
Meanwhile, Vikas Dubey's close relative Shama, neighbour Suresh Verma and domestic help Rekha and her husband Dayashankar Agnihotri were arrested.
On Tuesday, all 68 personnel of the Chaubepur Police Station were shunted to the reserve police lines amid doubts over their professional integrity.
Anand Deo Tiwari, DIG STF, who till recently was the Senior Superintendent of Police in Kanpur, transferred to the Provincial Armed Police (PAC) unit in Moradabad.
Tiwari was the Kanpur SSP in March when Deputy Superintendent of Police Devendra Mishra purportedly submitted a report against Dubey and local cops nexus to him. He reportedly never took any action. Mishra lost his life in the ambush Friday. The Kanpur’s SSP officer denied having any such letter.
Dubey’s key aide Jai Bajpayi’s pictures with Tiwari, Home secretary Awanish Awasthi and two BJP MPs had emerged Tuesday. On Wednesday, Bajpayi’s picture with BJP UP chief Swatantra Dev Singh was also surfaced on social media.
Progress so far...
-- Bounty for Dubey's arrest raised to Rs 5 lakh
-- Two cops from Chaubepur thana arrested for being Dubey's informers.
-- Gangster's close aide Amar Dubey killed in encounter in Hamirpur district.
-- Entire staff of Chaubepur thana have been shunted out, new team takes charge.
-- UP Deputy CM has met slain sub-inspector's family, gave cheque of Rs 1 crore.
