Uttar Pradesh: Cops bulldoze don’s den, bust secret bunker in Kanpur

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Bulldozer pulling down boundary walls of gangster Vikas Dubey’s house and destroying his two SUVs on Saturday.

KANPUR: Gangster Vikas Dubey, who enacted the midnight bloodbath in Kanpur, remained elusive on Saturday, but police exacted their revenge for the brutal killings of eight their colleagues by bulldozing the don’s plush, fortified house in Chaubeypur’s Bikru village with the same earthmover used to trap, lure and ambush the cops.

The air over Bikru village was laden with dust and flying concrete particles as the bulldozer pulled down boundary walls and razed the structure built on 2 bighas of land grabbed by the gangster. During the two-hour exercise in the presence of two columns of Provincial Armed Constabulary, civic officials busted a secret underground bunker hemmed in a 12-foothigh boundary ringed with barbed wire. These and four palatial rooms furbished with luxuries, including a modular kitchen and designer washroom, were turned to rubble. Two white SUVs and two tractors of the don were also destroyed.

Investigating officials accompanying the demolition team also found 16 CCTV cameras installed in different angles with a master control room to track suspicious movement around the house. A battery of experts manned the control room, said police. But, what baffled cops was the missing digital video recorder (DVR), which could hold the key to the probe. “We are examining CCTV footage at junctions en route his house to collect evidence. Also, we are searching neighbouring houses to track the DVR,” said a police officer.

Police sources said, a friend of Vikas from Chaubeypur, Manu, had lent the bulldozer which was later used in the ambush. Manu too has been named in the FIR and is on the run.

A handful of villagers, mostly women, children and elderly, present in nearby houses were asked to leave before the demolition started. “Officials evacuated Dubey’s father, his maid, her husband and their two children before letting the bulldozer in. A surveillance team is scanning CDR of more than 800 mobile phones to trace Dubey’s whereabouts. “A cash reward of Rs 50,000 has been offered for clues with the assurance of confidentiality,” said a police official. A senior district official told TOI they are preparing a list of Dubey’s properties, which will be attached in near future. “We are also scanning his bank accounts which would be frozen soon under Gangster Act,” he added. There were inputs that some policemen had asked local power station to disconnect supply, saying a brawl had taken place in Bikru village, further hinting at moles within the police machinery.