Lucknow: The Kanpur police on Sunday morning after a brief encounter arrested a member of Vikas Dubey gang, who was one of the killers who butchered eight Uttar Pradesh policemen.
According to SSP Kanpur Dinesh Kumar, Daya Shankar Agnihotri, 42, was intercepted by the police around 4.40 a.m. in Kalyanpur area.
Police recovered a gun and cartridges from Agnihotri's possession.
"He tried to escape and the police team shot at his leg. He has been arrested," the SSP said. A country-made firearm and cartridges have been recovered from his possession.
"In a phone-call, he(Vikas Dubey) received a tip-off from police station before the police came to arrest him. Following this, he called around 25-30 people as we were less in number. He fired bullets on police personnel. I was locked inside the house at the time of encounter, therefore, saw nothing," Dayashankar Agnihotri told reporters at the hospital.
Agnihotri is one of the accused in the killing of eight policemen on Friday in Bikru village.
The police said that Agnihotri will be interrogated by various agencies probing the Friday incident and could provide vital clues in the case.
The state police still has no clue about the whereabouts of the gangster Vikas Dubey.
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All the phones of Vikas, his associates and relatives have been put on surveillance but the gangster has not used any communication tool so far.
The Yogi Adityanath government, on Saturday night, increased the reward on Vikas to Rs one lakh. A reward of Rs 25,000 each has been announced for his 18 accomplices.
Sixty police team are frantically searching for the man, who is now 'most wanted' in Uttar Pradesh.
On Saturday, the police razed the house of Vikas in Bikru village where he had killed the policemen in the early hours of Friday. Two SUVs and two tractors parked in the premises were also trampled upon by the same earthmover that had been sued to block the police team's path when the incident took place.
The station house officer of Chaubeypur police station, Vinay Tiwari, was suspended on Saturday after a 12-hour grilling at the Special Task Force.
Tiwari was found to have fled from the site when the encounter began. He is also suspected to have tipped-off Vikas about police action.
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Vikas's mother Sarala Devi expressed grief over the incident and said that she would not feel sad if her son is killed in a police encounter.
She said that the family members of the policemen who were killed must be going through a very difficult time. She added that they have no objection to whatever punishment her son will get under the law.
It has also been found that a phone call was allegedly made from the Chaubeypur police station to the local power sub-station, asking them to disconnect the power supply in the village. The police team could not find an escape route when Vikas and his men fire at them because the area was plunged into darkness.
Two personnel of the sub-station have been detained for interrogation.
Meanwhile, in a related development, the police seized two cars and a motorcycle from Vikas' Lucknow residence in Krishna Nagar area. An ambassador car seized from the house is said to belong to the UP Estate department and was earlier allotted to a principal secretary.
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Vikas' family claimed that it had purchased the vehicle in an auction but could not produce the papers to substantiate its claim.
The Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) is preparing to serve a notice to Deep Prakash, brother of Vikas who lives in Krishna Nagar and is presently absconding. LDA officials said that the map of the house was not passed as per records and if the owner failed to produce the relevant documents, the house would be razed.
Meanwhile, sources said that there was a strong possibility that Vikas had fled to Nepal or to some other state and would surrender in court when the furore over the incident subsides.
The state police have stepped up vigil around the courts to pre-empt any move by Vikas to surrender in court.
Also Read:UP police form teams to nab Vikas Dubey, say cops linked with dreaded criminal
(With Inputs From IANS)
