Notorious UP gangster killed in police encounter, political blame game begins

The vehicle carrying notorious gangster Vikas Dubey— after his arrest in Ujjain on Thursday—had overturned due to a herd of cattle coming suddenly in front of it and as the driver tried to turn it quickly, UP Special Task Force (STF) said on Friday. “

During the journey, in Sachendi police station jurisdiction of Kanpur district on the national highway, a herd of cattle came on the road. The driver, tired by the long journey, suddenly tried to turn the vehicle to avoid an accident with the animals due to which the vehicle lost its balance and overturned. Due to this sudden accident the police officers, personnel sitting in the vehicle received grievous injuries,” the STF said in its statement, adding that Vikas Dubey “tried to take benefit of this sudden situation by snatching the pistol of Inspector Ramakant Pachauri, got out from the government vehicle and started running on the kaccha road”.

When cops pursued him, “Dubey started firing on the police party with an intent to kill from the snatched pistol. With no other recourse in hand, the police team too fired back in self-defence in a controlled fashion.”

The STF version, however, seems to have a few glitches. Hours before the encounter, a video at a toll plaza at 4 am showed Dubey in a different car, not the one that overturned. The media, which had been following the police convoy overnight, was stopped 2 km from the site where the incident took place.

The encounter has raised political blame game. While Samajwadi Party chief, in an interview with The Daily Guardian, alleged that Vikas Dubey had links with the BJP and was killed because he could have revealed secrets about many BJP leaders of the state, Congress general secretary and incharge of UP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted, “The criminal is dead but what about those who aided him.” Later she released a video message targeting Yogi government for worsening the law and order in UP and demanded a high-level probe by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court to ensure that the truth comes out and the families of the slain policemen get justice.

With agency inputs