A manhunt for Vikas Dubey, the Uttar Pradesh-based gangster sought for the July 3 ambush that killed eight policemen, shifted to the National Capital Region on Wednesday even as police teams separately shot dead one of his top aides and arrested eight others – including two policemen – for helping or sheltering him.
On Tuesday, Dubey was spotted at a hotel in Faridabad, the first time his whereabouts was known in what has been a game of cat and mouse since his escape from the scene of the predawn gunfight in a village near Kanpur last week.
Dubey has till now stayed a step ahead of the cops, who have discovered his hideouts and his getaway vehicles but only after he left them. On Wednesday morning, a team of UP Police engaged Dubey’s accomplice, Amar Dubey, in a gunfight in Hamirpur. Amar Dubey succumbed to injuries hours later.
Additional director general (ADG) of police, law and order, Prashant Kumar told reporters in Lucknow that the state police will ensure the strictest action against Vikas Dubey, “which will be cited as an example in the future”.
“Amar Dubey, who carried a reward of ₹50,000 and was a co-accused in the FIR registered in connection with the killings of police personnel, was killed in an encounter at Maudaha village in Hamirpur district,” Kumar said.
The July 3 murder and the escape that followed brought the spotlight back on law and order in Uttar Pradesh, with the police discovering that some among its own were feeding information to the gangster, possibly even playing a role in how the eight policemen walked into a trap since Dubey was tipped off about his impending arrest by the group.
On Wednesday, the police arrested two sub-inspectors posted in Kanpur and are believed to have alerted Dubey. An official involved in the manhunt in NCR, while asking not to be named, said it is likely that the suspect is still being fed information from inside the police since he seems to be leaving his hideouts shortly before raids are carries out.
In the Capital, security was increased in Noida after reports poured in about Dubey planning to surrender at the studio of a TV news channel. This came hours after police disclosed that the gangster had arrived in Faridabad on Monday, at one point checking into a hotel where CCTV footage showed him dressed in a dark black T-shirt, a pair of jeans, and a mask.
Police in Faridabad also detained an accomplice of Dubey’s who had been with him when the gunfight took place, as well as two relatives at whose residence the gangster stayed. “We received secret information and crime teams worked on technical surveillance and a raid was conducted in Indira Complex in Sector 87 following which three close aides tried to escape the spot while firing at police teams but were arrested,” said Anil Yadav, assistant commissioner of police (crime), Faridabad.
Officials in Lucknow slowly pieced together how Dubey escaped Kanpur: he and his aides first took motorcycles, before they hitched a ride on sand-laden trucks to reach close to Delhi.
Dubey has nearly 60 criminal cases against him including murder and attempt to murder. On July 3, when the police personnel were on their way to his house to arrest him, his men took position on rooftops and opened fire, killing eight of the group: a deputy superintendent of police, three sub-inspectors and four constables.
The state has since then raised the bounty on Dubey’s head to ₹5 lakh, and put posters with his face at all highway toll plazas.
After Dubey was spotted in Faridabad, checking of vehicles and commuters was stepped up on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, said police in Noida. Authorities also put up barricades around Noida’s Film City area after unconfirmed reports suggested he would surrender in front of a news channel
“Dubey left for Delhi as he suspected police was tracking his locations and he was willing to surrender before the Delhi court as he feared for his life and he told his aide that police will kill him in an encounter,” said Faridabad ACP Yadav
Police in Faridabad said they scanned close to 250 CCTV cameras but were yet to discover leads on where Dubey may have headed.
In the footage from the hotel, police officials said, Dubey was wearing some sort of a padding around his abdomen to alter his appearance. Throughout the duration when he has been seen on camera, the gangster did not remove his face mask.
The three suspects held from the Sector 87 house in Faridabad were produced before a court and Prabhat – who had accompanied Dubey from his village – -was taken on transit remand by Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh while the two otherss were sent to 14-days judicial custody.
Shravan Mishra, one of the two, tested positive for coronavirus and was placed in an isolation ward before being sent to jail, said Yadav.
Source: HindustanTimes