“Main Vikas Dubey hoon, Kanpur wala..Was it a surrender or arrest?
NEW DELHI/BHOPAL: The Uttar Pradesh Police have taken custody of gangster Vikas Dubey, wanted for killing eight policemen and arrested from Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain earlier today. He is being taken via road back to UP.
UP gangster Vikas Dubey was arrested this morning after a five-day hunt during which he traveled across three states to end up at Mahakal temple in Ujjain (MP).
Moments after he stepped out of the Mahakal temple in Ujjain, the notorious criminal was confronted. “Main Vikas Dubey hoon, Kanpur wala (I am Vikas Dubey of Kanpur),” he burst out, held by several policemen and slapped by one of them.
MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra was the in-charge of Kanpur region during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Lallu questioned his role in Dubey’s arrest. Normally it is seen that after any major mishap or arrest, a senior police officer addresses the media. “What was the compulsion that MP Home Minister had to address the press?”
Dubey, who was on the run since last Thursday when he and his men ambushed a police party and killed 8 cops, was arrested from near the Mahakal temple. His closest aide Amar Dubey was killed in an encounter with cops on Wednesday.
On Thursday, two more of his associated were killed in encounters with the police in UP. While one of the criminals was identified as Ranbir and shot dead in Etawah, the other was Dubey’s associate Prabhat Mishra who was taken in custody by the cops from Faridabad on Wednesday.
Sources in MP said that Dubey roamed inside the temple for about two hours during which the security guard kept monitoring his activities. The security personnel was alerted by a flower seller outside the temple who had first seen the gangster when he pulled down his mask.
The security guard at the Ujjain’s mahakal temple told media that the man, who later turned out to be Dubey, was trying to seek darshan at the temple from the back gate after arriving there at 7am.
Some sources have also claimed that the gangster himself asked the security personnel to inform the police about him, following which the officers came and took him away.
MP CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan said he had been in touch with his UP counterpart Yogi Adityanath. “Those who feel that after going to the Mahakal temple their sins will be wiped out, don’t know the Mahakal. Our government will not spare any criminals,” Mr Chouhan tweeted.
“We could not arrest Vikas Dubey and he surrendered in Ujjain. We could not arrest him even after such a huge incident and he kept travelling around. This should be investigated,” tweeted Amitabh Thakur, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer posted in Uttar Pradesh.
Vikas Dubey, charged in 60 cases including murders, escaped last Friday after killing eight policemen in an ambush he had set up to avoid arrest. In the end, he was caught not in UP, where there was an alert out for him, but more than 600 km away in a MP town.
Vikas Dubey, said to be in his 50s, was recognized when he bought prasad and entered the Mahakal temple. As security guards confronted him, he hit out at them. Then he was turned in.
Dubey, last seen at a hotel in Faridabad, Haryana, reportedly drove from Kanpur to Faridabad, through Kota in Rajasthan to Madhya Pradesh – around 1,500 km – without being checked.
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra said Dubey drove into the state with two aides; he had a fake ID which declared his last name as “Paul”. Was it a surrender or arrest? Senior UP police officer Mohit Agarwal said: “We had caught many of his associates and a few were killed. So definitely he was trying to save his life and on the run.”
Two policemen are among dozen arrested. The policemen, including the inspector in charge of the police station near Dubey’s village, allegedly alerted the gangster to the police team heading to arrest him. Over 60 policemen of that station have been removed and posted in police lines.
Questions have been raised about Vikas Dubey’s long run through three states without being caught. Opposition leaders have questioned whether the gangster surrendered or was arrested.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also raised questions about whether it was an arrest or surrender. “We hear that the main accused of the Kanpur-Kand is now in police custody. If true, then the government should clarify whether this was a surrender or arrest. Also his call records should be made public so the nexus can be exposed,” the former UP Chief Minister tweeted.
Taking to Twitter, former MP chief minister Kamal Nath said the gangster’s safe departure from Kanpur, arrival at Ujjain and the manner of arrest gave birth to a lot of suspicion.
“Such a big criminal whom the police are searching for day and night, his safe exit from Kanpur and arrival in Ujjain and later entry into the temple and the way he shouted to get himself arrested gives birth to a lot of suspicion. It hints at some protection and it should be probed,” Kamal Nath tweeted.
(Bureau REport with Agency Inputs ).
