Vikas Dubey’s aide arrested, 2 looted rifles recovered

Lucknow: An aide of gangster Vikas Dubey has been arrested and two rifles of the Uttar Pradesh police looted during the Kanpur ambush earlier this month have been recovered, police said on Tuesday.

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said that Dubey’s aide Shashikant was carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 on him.

“Shashikant was an accused in the killing of 8 policemen (in the Kanpur ambush). He was arrested from Chaubeypur around 2.50 am,” the police officer told reporters in Kanpur.

“During interrogation, he admitted to his involvement in the encounter at Kanpur’s Bikru and revealed that the looted AK-47 and INSAS rifles of UP Police were hidden at Dubey’s house,” the ADG said.

Based on the information, an AK-47 rifle, its 17 cartridges, an INSAS rifle and its 20 cartridges have been recovered. These weapons were looted from the police during the ambush, Kumar said.

The police officer said of the 21 named accused in the Kanpur ambush, six have been killed and four arrested so far, while a hunt is on for 11 named accused.

Dubey was shot dead on July 10 by police, who claim that he was trying to flee after the car carrying him from Ujjain overturned on an isolated stretch of the highway on the outskirts of the city.

The SUV met with the accident at Bhaunti in Kanpur district, toppling on the road which was slippery after the rains, police claimed. According to a statement from the Special Task Force, the driver had tried to avoid cattle on the road. The car was part of a small convoy of police vehicles.

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.