Police officers cordon the site where Vikas Dubey was killed near Kanpur, Friday, July 10, 2020. (AP Photo)
Uttar Pradesh gangster Vikas Dubey was shot dead Friday morning as he was being brought to Kanpur from Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain. According to the police, while being transported, one of the cars in the police convoy overturned. Taking advantage of the situation, Dubey allegedly attempted to snatch a weapon and flee the scene, police said, following which they opened fire and shot him. Two policemen were also injured.
Assistant Superintendent of Police, Kanpur, Dr Anil Kumar said a police team consisting of officials from UP’s Special Task Force (STF) and Kanpur police were bringing Dubey on a transit remand to Kanpur. The incident took place at around 7 am between Jhansi and Kanpur.
Dubey was arrested in Ujjain on Thursday from the Mahakaleshwar temple. He had been on the run since July 3 when police tried to raid his village, Bikru, near Kanpur. Since then, the police have killed five of his close aides, including his personal bodyguard.
There were 62 criminal cases lodged against Dubey in Uttar Pradesh, including five cases of murder and eight cases of attempt to murder.
Vikas Dubey was allegedly killed in an encounter with the police on Friday. (ANI Photo)
Vikas Dubey, who was shot dead by police on Friday, had received four bullet injuries, three of them in the chest, said the principal of a medical college where the gangster was brought. Principal of Ganesh Shankar Vidhyarthi Medical College Dr R B Kamal told reporters on Friday that Dubey was brought dead to the hospital. "Dubey sustained four bullet injuries, three in the chest and one in the hand." But the post-mortem report is yet to be made public. A panel of three doctors at Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital, which is attached to Ganesh Shankar Vidhyarthi Medical College, performed the post-mortem of Vikas Dubey. The post-mortem has been videographed, a doctor involved in it said, adding that the police have been briefed about the findings and the report would be handed over very soon.
The makers of Manoj Bajpayee starrer Bhonsle are planning a movie on the life of gangster Vikas Dubey, who was shot dead after he allegedly tried to escape from police custody in Kanpur early on Friday morning.
Producer Sandiip Kapur confirmed the news to indianexpress.com. He said, “We are in the planning phase right now. We are in talks with Manoj Bajpayee, but we haven’t signed papers. He has asked us to work on the film’s script. As you know, he only takes up a project if he is convinced with the script, the story and the character he has to portray. So once we have fixed everything, we will approach him and would want him to be a part of this film.” Read more
Former Union minister and Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav on Friday alleged that the police's claim of killing gangster Vikas Dubey in an encounter seems to be "fake". Yadav alleged that Dubey was killed as he could have disclosed many big "secrets".
"This encounter (killing) of Vikas Dubey seems to be fake and straight out of a film. This is an illegal way. This man could have disclosed many big secrets like who sheltered him... Those who sheltered him are as much to blame as Vikas Dubey and the country needed to know them," Yadav said.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Friday said there was no need to shed tears over the killing of gangster Vikas Dubey in an encounter and wondered why the police action was being questioned.
Talking to PTI, Raut said, "Dubey had killed eight policemen. Attack on the uniform means there is no law and order. Taking strict action is the need of that states police be it in Maharashtra or Uttar Pradesh." "There is no need to shed tears over the killing of Dubey in an encounter. Why is the police action being questioned?" the Rajya Sabha MP asked.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had sent notices to the Uttar Pradesh government over a number of alleged encounter killings by the state police in 2017-18. The issue has gained significance in view of gangster Vikas Dubey being shot dead Friday by UP police, who claim that he tried to flee after the car carrying him following his arrest in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh overturned on the outskirts of the city. In November 2018, the NHRC had sent notices to the UP chief secretary and the police chief of the state, taking suo motu cognisance of a media report about a 20-year old man, Irshad Ahmad of Muzaffarnagar district, being shot dead in an alleged fake encounter on November 27 that year.
Vikas Dubey was the sixth man to die in a police encounter after the ambush he allegedly masterminded in Kanpur's Bikru village past midnight on July 2, killing eight policemen who had come to arrest him.
Brother of BJP MoS Santosh Shukla who was killed by Vikas Dubey called the killing of the gangster an act of justice. He said that the killing of Dubey has made "everyone happy, whom he committed a crime against," adding that it took him 19 years to get justice.
Some former police officials from Mumbai on Friday praised the Uttar Pradesh Police over the killing of notorious gangster Vikas Dubey in an encounter, saying that the action was "much needed" to keep the morale of the force high. Dubey was shot dead by the Uttar Pradesh police personnel on the outskirts of Kanpur city on Friday morning. The police claimed that he was trying to flee after the car carrying him from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh overturned at Bhaunti in Kanpur district. Mumbai's former 'encounter specialist' police officer Pradeep Sharma defended the action against the gangster. Talking to PTI, Sharma, who was reportedly involved in the 'encounter' killings of over 100 criminals, said, "We should congratulate the UP police for this daring action and this is a genuine encounter as four police personnel also got injured in it." "The man who killed eight policemen got what he deserved...At the place where the incident occurred, it had rained and the vehicle carrying him skidded. After that, Dubey tried to run away by snatching a weapon of a policeman and fired at them, but police opened fire in retaliation," he said. "This action will boost the morale of the police force. No question should be raised over this encounter and if anyone does so, then they should first go and meet the family members of eight police personnel, who were killed by the gangster," he said.
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Friday ruled out the need for a CBI probe into the encounter killing of gangster Vikas Dubey saying, "law has taken its own course."
`Afsos aur maatam ki bat un logonke ke liye hogi jo kal bol rahe the ki jinda kyo pakad liya aur aaj kah rahe mar kyo diya. Kai raj dafan ho gaye. (It must be a matter of regret and mourning for those who asked yesterday why he was caught alive and are asking today why he was killed. Many secrets were buried), he said referring to the questions raised by the Congress and others over events leading to Dubey’s arrest from Mahakal temple in Ujjain on Thursday and his death later on Friday.
Mishra said the MP police did their job by arresting and escorting Dubey to the border from where UP police took his custody.
"Congress has a mindset of questioning the armed forces and the police," he said.
Targeting former CM Digvijaya Singh, he said the Congress leader was without any work because he is neither invited to political rallies nor does he attend them. Singh had on Thursday alleged that Mishra was behind the `staged surrender’ of Dubey in Ujjain.
Taking on Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, he said Dubey belonged to his party. ``We have posters (to prove his association). His mother (Dubey’s) also said he was with the SP,’’ Mishra said.
Senior TMC leader and MP Mahua Moitra came down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh government on Friday over the killing of gangster Vikas Dubey, asserting that justice is the "only thing killed" in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's "encounter raj". Dubey was killed in an encounter earlier in the day, after a police vehicle carrying him from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh to Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh met with an accident in the Bhaunti area of Kanpur district and he tried to flee. "It is the job of the courts to deliver justice. It is the job of the police to deliver the accused. Shocking that India under @BJP has confused the two," Moitra said in a tweet. "Only thing killed in Yogiji's "encounter Raj" is justice!" she added. Dubey had allegedly masterminded the ambush in Kanpur's Bikru village, in which eight policemen, who had gone to arrest him, was killed past midnight on July 2.
Hours before gangster Vikas Dubey was killed in an encounter near Kanpur on Friday, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Uttar Pradesh government and the police to safeguard his life and ensure that he is not killed by the cops. The plea has also sought registration of an FIR and an apex court monitored probe by the CBI into the encounter of five co-accused, who were alleged to be associated with Dubey in the killing of eight policemen last week. Prior to Dubey's encounter, five of his alleged associated were killed in separate encounters. The plea, filed in the apex court by advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay, has referred to media reports and claimed that encounter of these five co-accused by the police is 'not only extremely illegal, inhuman, but also it is shocking to the conscience of the court and is nothing but Talibanisation of the country, which cannot be countenanced at all'. 'I had done e-filing of the petition at 2 AM and provisional number was also allotted,' Upadhyay told PTI over phone.
The plea said the investigation must be transferred to the CBI and the probe agency should be directed to submit its periodical reports before the top court. 'In view of the extremely high handed and illegal action of Uttar Pradesh Government/Police so carried out inasmuch as completely pulling down/demolishing the residential building, shopping mall of accused Vikas Dubey?.there is every possibility of even accused Vikas Dubey being killed by Uttar Pradesh Police after his custody being obtained by them from MP police and then concoct a story of encounter?.,' the plea alleged. (PTI)
While congratulating the Uttar Pradesh police for gunning down Vikas Dubey, former union minister and senior BJP leader Uma Bharati questioned the circumstances leading to the gangster's arrest from the Mahakal temple in Ujjain. Raising questions she tweeted:"How did he reach Ujjain? How much time did he spend in the temple premises? Why did it take so long to recognise him given that his face has been shown so much on television that anyone would have recognised him?''
She said she would speak to MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Home Minister Narottam Mishra (about the temple arrest).
The Congress has demanded judicial probe monitored by sitting Supreme Court judge into entire episode involving gangster Vikas Dubey.
Following Vikas Dubey's encounter, former Jammu and Kashmir chief Omar Abdullah tweeted saying "Dead men tell no tales"
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati demands a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the encounter of Vikas Dubey as well as the ambush in which eight policemen died last week.
Vikas Dubey was allegedly shot dead by the police at around 7 am this morning. He is accused of 62 crimes, including murder.
Friday, July 10, 2020. (AP Photo)
Friday, July 10, 2020. (AP Photo)
Friday, July 10, 2020. (AP Photo)
Friday, July 10, 2020. (AP Photo)
The case of Vikas Dubey exemplifies a crisis in Uttar Pradesh police. At the time of his arrest Thursday, Dubey had at least 60 cases, including murder, to his name. Since the July 3 ambush in his village, Dubey evidently travelled three states even as the UP police gunned down five of his accomplices, bulldozed his house, and arrested two policemen on the suspicion that they were his moles in the force.
The Dubey case has all the markings of a disquieting nexus that involves politicians, policemen and criminals. Bahubalis, as criminals often associated with politicians are known in UP and Bihar, have been an integral part of the political landscape in these states for decades. Read The Indian Express editorial
Before Dubey was allegedly shot dead this morning, five of his aides had been killed in separate encounters since July 2, the date of the Kanpur encounter during which eight policemen were killed. The two aides who were gunned down on Thursday were identified as Kartikey alias Prabhat Mishra (20), who was arrested from Faridabad on Wednesday, and Ranveer alias Bauwa Dubey (37).
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has questioned the encounter, saying it was an attempt to save the government from the secrets Dubey could reveal.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi has tweeted following the death of Vikas Dubey, prime accused in the Kanpur killings. "The criminal has gone, but what about the crime and those protecting him," she asked.
Who is Vikas Dubey, who was killed this morning by the police? The notorious criminal has 62 criminal cases against him, including five cases of murder and eight cases of attempt to murder. Police have invoked tough laws such as the UP Gangsters’ Act, Goonda Act, and the National Security Act against him. Read more about the gangster here
Vikas Dubay, who was carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head, was allegedly shot dead by the police this morning. The police tried to make him surrender after he fled the scene, but he opened fire leading to an encounter. He was shot in retaliatory action, the police said.
Assistant Superintendent of Police, Kanpur, Dr Anil Kumar said a police team consisting of officials from UP’s Special Task Force (STF) and Kanpur police were bringing Vikas Dubey on a transit remand to Kanpur. At around 7.00 am, the vehicle in which Dubey was travelling overturned after it met with an accident in Sachendi area of Kanpur, he said. It is alleged that the driver lost control of the vehicle.
Vikas Dubey was allegedly shot dead this morning by the police. The Uttar Pradesh gangster was being transported from Ujjain to Kanpur via road, when one of the vehicle he was travelling in turned turtle. Taking advantage of the situation, Dubey tried to flee the scene but was killed by the police.