UP encounter: Who is Vikas Dubey, the history-sheeter who killed 8 policemen during Kanpur raid?

File image of Vikas Dubey

Vikas Dubey, the main accused in the Kanpur encounter case, was arrested in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain on July 9.

Dubey was on his way to the Mahakal temple in Ujjain when he was identified by security personnel.

Two aides of the gangster, also wanted in connection with the Kanpur ambush, were gunned down in separate encounters in Uttar Pradesh earlier on July 9.

On July 3, eight police personnel of Uttar Pradesh Police were killed during a raid that was conducted around 1.00 am in Kanpur’s Chaubepur area to nab dreaded criminal Dubey.

The police team had gone to Dikru village, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Chaubepur Police Station, to arrest the history-sheeter who reportedly has 60 criminal cases field against him, when the incident took place.

According to an India Today report, in 2001, Dubey had killed Bharatiya Janata Party’s Santosh Shukla inside Shivli Police Station. His family had accused the police of being mute spectators of the crime after his demise. Due to lack of evidence against the ganglord, he was acquitted by the court later. The criminal, who is now in his 50s, was arrested several times thereafter but could never be convicted.

Dubey is notorious for extorting industrialists, kidnapping as well as murder. An ABP report states that he also ran a hotel business spanning major cities such as Lucknow, Kanpur and Gorakhpur.

The dreaded gangster is also a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader and was once a member of the zila panchayat.