LUCKNOW: Top opposition leaders on Thursday questioned the role of Uttar Pradesh Police after dreaded Kanpur-based gangster Vikas Dubey, who was on the run for several days, was dramatically arrested from the Mahakal Temple in the Ujjain district of Madhya Pradesh.


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Reacting to the development, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said, “This looks like a staged surrender to save Vikas Dubey from the encounter by UP Police. I have got to know that all this was fixed by a senior BJP leader of Madhya Pradesh.’’


Whereas the former UP chief minister and Samajwadi Party president, Akhilesh Yadav, asked the Yogi Adityanath government to clarify whether Vikas Dubey had “surrendered or was he arrested.”


Yadav also demanded that the government should now make public all the call detail records of the gangster so that his links with influential people could be known to all.



Congress spokesman Surendra Rajput also questioned whether Dubey would be brought back to UP safely. "Will he also try to run away and meet a fate similar to other?" he asked on the social media. He said that it was the duty of the police to bring back the gangster and make him face the law of the land.


Questioning the role of UP Police, senior Congress leader Jitin Prasada tweeted after the STF detained Khushi, wife of Amar Dubey, who was shot dead in Hamirpur on Wednesday.


Khushi`s arrest has not been announced by the STF, but the local people have confirmed that Amar`s relatives and his wife were ‘taken away’ by the police and have not returned yet. Amar had been married to Khushi on June 29 - just three days before the Bikru village encounter. She was widowed on Wednesday, a week after being married.


"Khushi probably had no choice being married off to Amar and continues to suffer as a widow and facing police harassment. Get Vikas Dubey alive and expose the links and the rot in the system from top to bottom and justice prevails," Jitin Prasada tweeted.


He further tweeted that "The news of Prabhat Mishra`s encounter while under arrest is further proof that the govt does not want anyone left alive to tell the real story."



Critical reactions from the opposition leaders came after it was confirmed that gangster Vikas Dubey, wanted in connection with the Kanpur ambush in which eight policemen were killed, was arrested from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra confirmed the development. He told reporters that Dubey is in the state police's custody in Ujjain.


The minister, however, did not confirm if the dreaded gangster, who was carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh on information leading to his arrest, was nabbed from within or outside the Mahakal temple premises.


Meanwhile, two more aides of Dubey were gunned down in separate encounters in Uttar Pradesh.


While Kartikeya alias Prabhat was killed in Kanpur when he tried to flee from police custody, Praveen alias Bauwa Dubey was shot dead in an encounter in Etawah, the police said. Kartikeya, who was arrested from Faridabad on Wednesday, was being brought to Kanpur on transit remand when he snatched the pistol of a policeman and tried to flee, ADG, Law and Order Prashant Kumar said.


"The encounter took place in the Panki area of Kanpur when a police team was bringing Kartikeya alias Prabhat from Faridabad to Kanpur on transit remand. The police vehicle had a flat tyre. Taking advantage of the situation, Kartikeya tried to flee after snatching the pistol of a policeman," he said.


Kartikeya opened fire at the policemen accompanying him, injuring two Special Task Force (STF) personnel, and was killed in the ensuing exchange of fire, the officer said. Praveen alias Bauwa Dubey, wanted in connection with last week's Kanpur ambush, was killed in an encounter in Etawah, the police said.


"The police team surrounded a person at about 4.30 am and he was killed in an exchange of fire. The deceased was identified as Praveen alias Bauwa Dubey, who was wanted in connection with the Kanpur ambush. He was carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 on information leading to his arrest," Etawah Superintendent of Police (SP) Akash Tomar said.


Eight policemen, including a deputy superintendent of police, were ambushed in Bikru village in the Chaubeypur area of Kanpur, where they had gone to arrest Vikas Dubey and fell to bullets fired from rooftops last Friday.


Five persons have so far been killed in separate police encounters since the Kanpur ambush.
Earlier, Amar Dubey was killed in Uttar Pradesh's Hamirpur on Wednesday, while Prem Prakash Pandey and Atul Dubey were gunned down in an encounter in Kanpur on July 3.