Lucknow: An aide of wanted criminal Vikas Dubey, who ambushed and killed eight policemen in Kanpur Thursday when they had gone to arrest him, has revealed that Dubey had received a call from the local police station tipping him off hours before the raid.
Dayashankar Agnihotri alias ‘Kallu’ was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police Sunday morning from the Kalyanpur area of Kanpur, in a major breakthrough in the shootout case. Agnihotri was arrested after getting shot in the leg in an encounter with the police, while trying to escape
During interrogation, he said Dubey planned the attack only after receiving the informer’s call and hired 25-30 miscreants from outside the village for the purpose, the police said.
Agnihotri also revealed that the gun Dubey used to shoot the policeman was also licensed under his name, said the police.
Meanwhile, even after 60 hours of the shootout, Dubey and his other aides are still absconding. The police has even increased the bounty on his head from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
Also read: Vikas Dubey, a criminal for police but ‘dabang neta’ with clout in all parties for villagers
The Kanpur shootout
A police team had gone to arrest wanted criminal Vikas Dubey at Bikaru village in Chaubepur area of Kanpur Thursday night. Dubey was accused of attempting to murder a man in a nearby village.
According to ADG, Kanpur Zone, Jai Narayan Singh, as soon as the team reached Dubey’s house they were fired at from nearby rooftops. Eight policemen died on the spot, while seven other police officers were injured.
Circle Officer Devendra Mishra, who was leading the raid on Dubey’s house, was also killed in the firing.
Police sources said CO Mishra was killed in an extremely gruesome manner.
An official, who did not want to be named, told ThePrint that Mishra, when attacked, jumped a wall and tried to hide in a house, which unfortunately belonged to Dubey’s maternal uncle.
Some of Dubey’s aides climbed down another rooftop and shot Mishra in the head after pushing him to the wall. They also severed his leg with an axe.
SO suspended for suspected role
Earlier, ADG Singh had suggested that Dubey might have been tipped off by someone inside the police station.
Now, Agnihotri’s disclosure has confirmed that there was his mole inside the police department who leaked information and helped Dubey plan the ambush on the police team.
Chaubepur police station’s supervising officer Vinay Tiwari has been suspended after being suspected of being the mole. Tiwari is also being interrogated by the police for his suspected role in the ambush.
According to the police sources, the phone numbers of several police officers were found in Dubey’s phone records and all of them are now under investigation.
The sources also revealed that he held several conversations with these people just a few hours prior to the shootout.
Also read: Earth-mover, armed men on roofs: How Kanpur’s wanted criminal set up ambush to kill 8 cops
Surveillance measure proving ineffective to track Dubey
Dubey and several of his aides have been absconding for more than 60 hours now and according to the police, tracking him has proven especially difficult since he is not carrying a mobile phone.
Despite continuous electronic surveillance of 2,200 phone numbers, there is still no clue about his location.
The police sources said it will not be easy to trace his whereabouts using an electronic surveillance system. This is why several policemen, with strong local networks and informers, have been roped in to contribute to the search.
It is a known fact that Dubey has always avoided using a mobile phone. Even while threatening someone, he always preferred sending a message through one of his goons, according to the local police.
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