One week of Vikas Dubey hit-and-gun saga told the story of India

Vikas Dubey’s manhunt had all ingredients of a pot boiler—a revenge seeking police, an administration that cheers extra-judicial killings, and a screaming media.

Vikas Dubey arrested by police in Ujjain on 9 July | ANI Photo

A week is a long time in politics as well as in Uttar Pradesh’s vendetta war. A week that began with the most audacious killing of 8 policemen by Kanpur gangster Vikas Dubey ended with a whimper-of-an-encounter that many had predicted. The week also was a microcosm of all that is India today. It had all the ingredients of a sellout pot boiler—a blood thirsty police force, and an administration that cheers extra-judicial killings, a screaming media that resembles more like the authors of Manohar Kahaniyan, caste pride, and that old trope of politician-muscle man nexus. Or as Anjana Om Kashyap of Aaj Tak liked to call khadi, khaki aur gangster.

That is why Vikas Dubey’s hit-and-gun is ThePrint’s newsmaker of the week.

The UP don, was shot dead in the wee hours of Friday, just a couple of kilometres away from the main Kanpur town, at the Sachendi border a week after he killed 8 police personnel in an ambush in his village.

Police says Dubey tried to flee, snatching a cop’s gun after the car he was getting transported in from Ujjain to Kanpur skidded on the wet highway. It rained on Thursday night. Five of his closest aides have also been shot dead in ‘encounters’ in the last one week. Since then, Dubey, thanks to the 24*7 TV news media, has dominated the Indian mindspace, playing hide and seek with the police. And social media, that often takes a divided stand, too remained on high alert during the entire sequence of events.

While the Liberals questioned the killing of the dreaded gangster who was named in over 60 cases, including 5 for murders, the opposition in Uttar Pradesh latched on to the opportunity to criticise the Yogi Adityanath government’s poor control over law and order in the state.

दरअसल ये कार नहीं पलटी है, राज़ खुलने से सरकार पलटने से बचाई गयी है.

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 10, 2020

‘Encounters’ before the ‘encounter’

On the intervening night of 2 and 3 July, Dubey and his men ambushed 8 police personnel, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), in a manner reminiscent of Maoist barbarity. The cops had gone to arrest Dubey from his village in Bikaru, in Kanpur’s Chaubepur area.

What has followed since then is a tale of bullets and bloodbath where investigation appears to have given way to ‘encounters’.

Dubey’s uncle and cousin were gunned down on 3 July, a day after he fled from his Bikaru home. In what Liberals described as vendetta, on 4 July, police vandalised and demolished Dubey’s house with the same JCB that the gangster’s men had used to ambush the cops.

By day two, the ‘holy nexus’ between the police and criminals began to surface from the badlands of UP.

Dubey’s aid Kallu who was tackled and shot in the leg by the cops before being arrested revealed how the gangster was tipped off about the raid at his house by someone in the police force. Kallu’s confession was played on loop on news channels and social media. The mole, Vinay Tiwari, the supervising officer of Chaubepur police station stands suspended and arrested for tipping off Dubey.

Videos and letters tell the tale

A purported letter by the slain DSP Devendra Kumar Mishra did rounds on social media and TV. The letter, written in March, carried a complaint to the then SSP, Kanpur, Anand Deo about a change in section of charges against Dubey.

Two of Dubey’s videos also surfaced, exposing the nexus between gangsters and politicians in Uttar Pradesh.

On 7 July, Dubey was seen in a Faridabad hotel’s CCTV footage. Cops arrested three of his aides, Ankur, Shravan and Kartikey from Faridabad itself, but Dubey escaped. While Dubey travelled states to reach Ujjain, UP police gunned down his close associate and bodyguard Amar Dubey, Kartikeya alias Prabhat, and Praveen alias Bauwa Dubey. A total of 5 of his aides were killed before Dubey was caught.

After six days of manhunt, even gods couldn’t protect him—don Vikas Dubey was nabbed from Ujjain’s Mahakal temple in Madhya Pradesh. He had managed to travel across three states, covering around 1,300 km by road, in a span of one week. His wife, son and a helper were apprehended by cops hours after his arrest. It is alleged that wife Richa Dubey, was a part of the conspiracy that led to the death of the 8 policemen.

TV, TRP and the don chase

Over the week, TV news channels competed with one another for TRPs over Dubey’s story, screaming a variety of headlines. Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV ran a hashtag, #VikasDubeyDiary. On Aaj Tak, one of Anjana Om Kashyap’s repeated lines was— “Today we will halla bol against the bloody cocktail of khadi, khaki and gangster”.

India TV’s Rajat Sharma, however, found a new angle to address Dubey’s case. He pointed out how some social media users were eulogising Dubey from a casteist angle, referring to those who called the don, a braveheart and a lion, just because he is a Brahmin.

TV anchors went into an investigative mode. Kashyap also interviewed the slain DSP’s daughter on her show, coaxing her to reveal any details that her father must have had told her before he went on the raid.

Speculations on how Dubey managed to flee drove the anchors into a tizzy. While some said he had taken an SUV, others claimed the don fled in a truck. There were also those who said the gangster rode a bicycle. Indians stayed glued to their TV sets consuming hours of ‘speculative journalism’, perhaps due to the Bollywood potboiler it was turning out to be. News18 went to Dubey’s native home and soon, Richa Dubey’s face was playing on Primetime debates with anchors asking: Kahan hai biwi (where’s the wife).

Hoping this might be the end of the potboiler, news channels ran the ‘exclusive’ footage of Dubey’s arrest. The video, in which Dubey is seen yelling ‘Main Vikas Dubey Kanpur wala!’ and being slapped by a cop on his head, also went viral on social media.

From thug to a don 

As a 20-year-old, Vikas Dubey was first dragged to the police station in the 1990 after he had beaten up a few men from another caste for allegedly insulting his father. Around 1991-1992, the first murder case was registered against him in Chaubepur police station after he killed two dalit men.

Even though he was sent to jail, he managed to secure a bail each time. Dubey, who gradually became a symbol of pride for Uttar Pradesh’s Brahmins also gained political patronage and kept changing his loyalties—from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

In a video from 2006, Dubey talks about his ‘political guru’ former Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker Hari Krishan Srivastava who had served as MLA for the Janata Party, the Janata Dal and the BSP.

In another video from 2017, Dubey boasts about his political links with BJP MLAs Bhagwati Prasad Sagar and Abhijeet Sanga, who he says had helped him clear his name.

It is in the year 2001 that Dubey became the kingpin of Kanpur after allegedly killing BJP leader Santosh Shukla inside Shivli police station in Kanpur Dehat, shooting him in broad daylight. Manoj Shukla, brother of Santosh Shukla had claimed that when Dubey had surrendered in 2001, BSP, SP and BJP leaders had accompanied him.

Dubey was, however, acquitted in this case four years later on favourable witness statements. In 2000, the gangster was accused of killing his teacher and retired principal of Tara Chand Inter College, Sidheshwar Pandey in Shivli town. A local court sentenced Dubey and three others to life imprisonment in 2004. While one person died, the remaining three, including Dubey were granted bail.

In a 2006 video, Dubey is seen flaunting his links with politicians and youth leaders. “I create politicians and help them win elections. This is why some politicians of my area see a threat to their future in me and force the police to register false cases against me,” he says. “I’m a traditional landlord and enjoy tremendous political clout in my area. I was panchayat chief twice and zilla panchayat member once. My wife is a zilla panchayat member,” he adds.

With Vikas Dubey’s death, nothing has come to an end. In the hinterlands of Uttar Pradesh, there are many ‘Vikas Dubeys’ who continue to operate and go unreported, enjoying the gains of the ‘holy trinity’—police, politicians and the resulting power.

Views are personal.