Towards the end of last week, there had been a raid that had turned rather disastrous, with eight police officials being killed in an altercation with gangster Vikas Dubey.
About 50 policemen had gone to Dikru village to nab Dubey who faces around 60 criminal cases. But even before they could take up their positions, the officials were greeted with a hail of bullets that killed eight amongst their ranks. The attackers had fled while snatching weapons from the dead and wounded policemen.
Now, new information has emerged, that suggest that the gangster was tipped off by members of the police force. "As per evidence, it has been found that police personnel Vinay Tiwari and KK Sharma had informed Vikas Dubey about the raid beforehand. So, he was on alert and planned to attack police which resulted in the death of 8 policemen," SSP Kanpur Dinesh Prabhu told ANI.
The two have now been arrested. Tiwari had been the former Station Officer of Chaubepur Police Station that has jurisdiction over the gangster's village. Reportedly, he had watered down charges against Dubey in previous cases.
IG of Kanpur Range, Mohit Agarwal said that Tiwari and Beat Incharge KK Sharma had been present during the encounter, but had fled the site of the incident during the operation.
Earlier on Wednesday, the entire police team in Chaubeypur police station, comprising 68 cops were removed.
In the meantime, the Haryana police has arrested three alleged accomplices of Vikas Dubey in a raid at a house in Faridabad. They had been acting on a tip-off that the gangster was holed up there, officials said on Wednesday.
A later update reveals that one of the three men arrested after the raid have tested positive for COVID-19.
(With inputs from agencies)
