Gangster Vikas Dubey’s ‘bomb-maker’ surrenders

KANPUR: Slain gangster Vikas Dubey’s close aide Gopal Saini, who was carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head, surrendered before a special court at Maati in Kanpur Dehat district on Wednesday evening.
Saini, who reportedly made bombs for Dubey, was among the 14 absconding accused in the Bikru ambush case.
Special Task Force (STF) and district police were looking for Saini as probe revealed that he threw bombs at the police party on July 3 when eight policemen, including deputy superintendent of police Devendra Kumar Mishra, were killed when they went to arrest Dubey in an attempt to murder case lodged at Chaubeypur police station by one Rahul Tiwari.
District government counsel (criminal) Raju Porwal told reporters that accused Gopal Saini surrendered before the special court (UP dacoity-affected area) at Maati in Kanpur Dehat on Wednesday evening.
Saini’s advocate moved an application for his surrender before the special court, Porwal said.
SP (rural) Brijesh Kumar Srivastava said, “Gopal Saini, an aide of gangster Vikas Dubey, surrendered before court in Kanpur Dehat today.”
A police official said Gopal was a neighbour of Dubey and used to make bombs for him. Material used in bomb manufacturing was recovered from his house during the raid after the ambush.“He had hurled several bombs at police party on July 3. Besides, Dubey’s aides had used his roof-top for firing at the police team,” the officer added.
“Saini used to run the ration shop that Dubey had allotted in the name of his servant Daya Shankar Agnihotri. Three bombs were recovered from the ration shop during search,” he added. “We will move an application before the court requesting for his remand so that he can be interrogated with regard to the Bikru ambush, besides collecting inputs about Dubey’s absconding 13 aides,” the officer said.
Police had declared a cash reward of Rs 50,000 on Saini, but it was later raised to Rs 1 lakh.
Police are looking for 13 accused, including Dubey’s brother Deep Prakash, Raja Ram, Shiv Tiwari, Vishnu Pal Yadav alias Ziledar, Ram Singh, Ramu Bajpai, Heeru Dubey, Bauwan Shukla, Shivam Dubey and Bal Govind Singh.