Slain gangster Dubey enjoyed police patronage: Inquiry commission report
Gangster Vikas Dubey, who was killed in an encounter by the Uttar Pradesh police in July 2020 was patronised by local police, and this mismanagement of law enforcement agencies was made worse due to the judicial indiscretion, observed an inquiry commission headed by former Supreme Court judge, justice (retd) BS Chauhan.
The inquiry report was released on the Supreme Court website on Thursday.
The commission, constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government on July 23, 2020, on a direction of the Supreme Court gave a clean chit to the UP police facing allegations of killing Dubey in a fake encounter but dwelt on larger issues of police reforms and legal reforms needed to ensure that confidence
of citizenry in police gets restored and state is not made suspect in such incidents.
Dubey was killed in 2020 in an encounter with UP-STF that took place after he had killed eight policemen, including a deputy superintendent of police and three sub inspectors, in an ambush in Bikru village in Kanpur (dehat).
The STF said the vehicle in which Dubey was travelling overturned in an accident and he tried to flee after that.
The commission, also comprising former Allahabad high court judge, justice (retd) Shashi Kant Agarwal and former director general of police KL Gupta, in its 130-page report said, “The facts that have emerged, definitely require a committed and devoted reformatory approach in the light of the suggestions of various commissions that have been attempted on police reforms.”
This, it said, was necessary “to enlighten the state governments of their constitutional obligation of policing and protecting their citizens” and to ensure “that a public perception about fake encounters is dispelled and the confidence of the citizenry is restored in order to avoid making government itself suspect.”
In the present case, the bench noted “tell tale signs” of how Dubey, a resident of village Bikru in Kanpur, who had 64 criminal cases involving heinous offences, had a free run as the local police authorities got all the material from him to facilitate their working in the area falling under Chaubeypur police station.
“He (Dubey) and his associates had been in touch with such officials and the officers were also communicating with them... the police had been receiving materials for various boards (Takhts), drinking water and also other items for daily use. In view of such services and other illegal gains, the police and revenue officers had patronised him and his gang,” the report stated.
The favours received were returned equally by the police as any person who lodged a complaint against Dubey or his associates was humiliated.
“Even if the higher authorities directed to lodge the complaint, the local police dictated the terms. His name appeared in the list of Top 10 criminals in the circle but not in the list of Top 10 criminals of the district,” the report said.