A close aide of the gangster Vikas Dubey was shot dead in Uttar Pradesh’s Hamirpur, police said. Dubey is involved in the killing of eight policemen in Kanpur and has been on the run since the incident last Thursday.
“The aide Amar Dubey was co-accused in the Kanpur incident and was killed on Wednesday morning,” UP Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar said.
He further said that UP Special Task Force (STF) gunned him down in coordination with the local police unit in Hamirpur. There was a reward of Rs 25,000 on him, Kumar added.
A police inspector and a constable of the STF were injured in the gun fight.
News agency ANI quoted Hamirpur Suerintendent of Police (SP) Shlok Kumar as saying that an automatic weapon and a bag was recovered from Amar Dubey’s possession. “Forensic team is on their way to the encounter site, further investigation is underway,” he added.
The Uttar Pradesh Police had said on Tuesday that 40 teams and the STF were hunting for dreaded gangster Vikas Dubey. The state police chief added that the force will not rest until Dubey is nabbed.
There were reports that Vikas Dubey was spotted in a car with his men in Bijnor.
Uttarakhand police headquarters alarmed its personnel in the state, especially in the border districts, to be on alert after the latest lead on whereabouts of Dubey. The dreaded criminal was allegedly seen in a car with his men in Bijnor on Monday night, a senior police officer requesting anonymity said.
The sensational and barbaric execution of policemen in Bikru village in Kanpur rural is also in focus for exposing moles in the state police force who actively tipped off Dubey hours before the police raid and led their own colleagues into a deadly trap laid by the gangster.
After the investigation, all the staff members of Kanpur’s Chaubeypur police station, comprising 68 police personnel, were transferred on Tuesday.
Anant Deo Tewari, who had earlier worked as Kanpur SSP, was among them. Tewari was transferred from his present post of DIG STF after a controversial letter of slain Dy SP Devendra Mishra surfaced. In the letter, Mishra had sought action against SO of Chaubeypur police station, Kanpur, Vinay Tewari but Anant Deo Tewari had allegedly ignored the complaint.