Vikas Dubey's wife interrogated by cops over Kanpur encounter after his arrest from Ujjain

After the arrest of notorious gangster Vikas Dubey, his wife Richa was also interrogated on Thursday in connection to the Kanpur encounter that killed eight Uttar Pradesh Police personnel, Kanpur police said. Dubey was arrested from Ujjain's Mahakal Temple on Thursday morning by the Madhya Pradesh Police. He was on the run for the last six days and had come to offer prayers at the temple where he was identified by the security guards. Besides Dubey, two other accomplices have also been captured as per Madhya Pradesh Police on Thursday.

Dubey was in the custody of Madhya Pradesh Police has been handed over to Uttar Pradesh STF. He will be taken to Lucknow on Friday and then to Kanpur. As per sources, when he was produced before a UP Court via video conference, the police stated in the court that Dubey was not cooperating with the investigation. While he reportedly accepted what happened on the intervening night of July 2, he denied killing any policeman. Moreover, Dubey informed the court that he was scared that he and his family would be killed in an encounter. When he was asked about how he managed to reach Ujjain, the gangster did not offer a satisfactory response, sources observed.

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UP Police crackdown on Dubey's accomplices

Addressing a press briefing, UP IG (Law and order) confirmed that Dubey had been arrested from Ujjain by the MP Police. Thereafter, he revealed details about the UP Police's crackdown on his other accomplices. Some of his aides died when the police fired in self-defence. 

The UP IG (Law and order) remarked, "His (Dubey's) accomplice Prabhat Mishra aka Kartik had a scuffle with the police. He had been arrested from Faridabad on July 8. He had a reward of Rs.50,000. When the UP Police was bringing him to the court from Faridabad to Kanpur, the police vehicle stopped due to tyre puncture. Mishra snatched a pistol from a policeman, opened fire and tried to escape. 2 STF personnel were injured. Mishra was injured after the police fired in self-defence. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the nearest hospital."

He added, "In Etawah, there was an incident of a Swift car getting stolen. When the police zoomed in on a suspected car, the miscreants inside tried to open fire. One of the miscreants died in the police firing. He was present during the dastardly incident in Kanpur...Three other accomplices were arrested too."

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The Kanpur Encounter

Republic had earlier uncovered from Vikas Dubey's aide that the notorious gangster was already fed information about the police raid five hours in advance. Dubey had instructed his henchmen to kill all policemen who were part of the raid. He had instructed his aides to keep the weapons ready. As a result, his gang members were already waiting for the police to arrive, leading to the ambush. Daya Shankar Agnihotri, an accomplice of Dubey who was arrested on Sunday, had claimed that Dubey had received an alert. Police surveillance had found that a few cops were in contact with Vikas Dubey and SO Vinay Tiwari is said to be one of them. Four policemen have been suspended since then. 

On the night of July 3, the police team went to raid the residence of Vikas Dubey, however, a JCB machine was placed on the road to block the police vehicle which points out that the criminal and his men already knew of the police' action. When the policemen got down from the vehicle after the roadblock due to JCB machine, Vikas Dubey's henchmen who had already taken a position on the rooftop started firing on the policemen ultimately killing eight of them and injuring seven.