Everything you need to know about the Vikas Dubey case

On the night of July 2 in Kanpur’s Bikhru village, police personnel headed to a raid to nab history-sheeter, Vikas Dubey, were ambushed and brutally murdered by Dubey’s men. Around 15-20 goons armed with semi-automatic weapons like AK-47 fired at the unarmed policemen, who were blinded by lights, killing 8 policemen and injuring 7 others. Crucial details have been obtained after investigating Daya Shankar Agnihotri, Dubey’s domestic help and close aide who was arrested on July 5, that the gangster had received information about the raid five hours in advance. Hence, his henchmen were armed, and lying in wait for the police as a JCB machine was also placed on the road to block the police’s vehicle. Certain gory details have come to light by the autopsy of the eight slain policemen. Bilhaur Circle Officer (CO) Devendra Mishra‘s head was severed by Dubey’s goons. Sustaining five bullets throughout his arms, stomach, and right leg, even his toes were cut off from his feet and his body was dismembered, gruesome details of the post-mortem revealed.

In notable progress, Chaubeypur Station House Officer (SHO) Vinay Tewari, along with four other policemen, has been suspended and is being questioned. However, Kanpur Senior Police Superintendent (SSP) Dinesh Kumar in a press brief stated that SHO Tewari ordered for the electricity to be cut off to protect the police squad from the aggressive assault that might absolve the policeman facing allegations of deceiving law enforcement.

“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.

UP’s Director-General of Police (DGP) Hitesh Chandra Awasthy has strengthened the hunt for the notorious gangster by issuing an alarm for Dubey’s arrest across all 75 state districts who is the accused in over 60 cases, including 11 of the murder. He stated vehicle searches were implemented at the state lines at least five-six hours after the attack which would have been quite enough to flee the state, pointing towards foul play.

Additionally, a bounty of Rs 1 lakh has been announced for his capture, which has now been increased to Rs 2.5 lakh, along with the affirmation that the tipster’s identity will not be disclosed. Across the state, fifty dedicated teams and more than 3,000 police officers were mobilized to apprehend him in a major manhunt but his whereabouts are still unknown.

The horrendous events of the raid were a result of a dispute between the notorious gangster and his brother-in-law, Rahul Tiwari, over a few acres of gram panchayat land at Bikhru village. As per sources, a day before the raid Rahul Tiwari first approached police to complain against Vikas Dubey but the SHO Tewari refused to file an FIR against Dubey but also decamped when Circle Officer, Devendra Mishra took action and filed the FIR. On investigation, it was later found that Tewari had gone to Dubey to inform him of the goings-on where he was beaten up by Dubey’s goons. All of which he failed to report to his superiors casting him in even more doubtful shadow.

A supposed correspondence by CO Devendra Mishra, who is one of the eight police officers slain in last week’s Kanpur ambush, reportedly set up by local history-sheeter Vikas Dubey, has gained traction with his implication that the gangster was hands-in-glove with the cops. Nearly prophetic, Mishra explained in the report that Tiwari ‘s credibility was doubtful, suggesting he was in connivance with the gangster and even cautioned that if no steps were taken, “serious incidents” would occur.

The authorities confirmed Mishra sought a preliminary enquiry(PE) against Tiwari eight times; the ninth time he submitted the detailed report based on his findings. Concerns are already being raised about why the then SSP, Anand Tiwari, now a part of the Uttar Pradesh Police’s Special Task Force, which is investigating the Kanpur ambush case, chose not to take action against Tiwari or launch stringent measures towards Dubey whom Mishra listed as “one of the most hardened criminals.”
UP Police is yet to validate the letter as genuine. Kanpur inspector general of police, Mohit Agrawal informed the press on Monday that he’d come across the letter through the media.

“A file has been sought from the SSP’s office in this regard and further action will be taken after studying it,” he said.

Last month in Chaubeypur, Mishra had also exposed a gambling den alongside SHO Shivrajpur Mahesh Yadav, who is also one of those murdered on Thursday. And he had reported in his statement addressed to then SSP that it was being operated under the supervision of Tiwari. Authorities acknowledge that Tiwari and Mishra had a highly unpleasant work relationship and that the latter carefully tracked the behavior and activities of the Chaubeypur SO.