DUBEY AIDE HELD
KANPUR: Police arrested Shashi Kant Pandey, key aide of slain gangster Vikas Dubey, late on Monday night and recovered an AK-47 and an INSAS rifle, besides 47 cartridges.
Shashi Kant is an accused in the Kanpur ambush in which eight policemen were killed on July 3. Police had announced Rs 50,000 on his arrest. Displaying the recovered weapons, ADG, law and order, Prashant Kumar said Pandey led the police to recovery of these firearms. The firearms were looted from the policemen by the criminals and they carried the weapons with them while fleeing the village.
Police had found the Glock pistol following the shootout in
Kashiram Nivada jungles in which another aide Atul Dubey was killed. Two other 9 mm pistols were recovered from another aide Prabhat Mishra alias Kartikeya in Faridabad.
With the latest recovery, all weapons looted during the ambush had been recovered, he said. Kumar said Shashi Kant, whose father Prem Prakash Pandey was killed in a police encounter, was arrested from Mela Tiraha in Chaubeypur. Special Operation Groups (SOGs of Rail Bazar and Chaubeypur were pursuing him. He was a named accused in the Kanpur ambush case 192/20 lodged under sections 147, 148, 149, 302, 307, 120 B, 412 of IPC and 7 Criminal Amendment Law Act.
He said after his arrest, Shashi Kant confessed to his association with accused Vikas Dubey, Amar Dubey, Atul Dubey, Prem Kumar, Vishnupal alias Ziledar, Bauwan, Heeru Dubey, Shivam, Ram Singh, Babban Shukla, Ramesh Chandra, Gopal Saini, Akhlesh Mishra, Vipul, Shyamu Bajpai, Bal Govind and Daya Shankar Agnihotri.
He also admitted his involvement in the shootout. He disclosed that the looted weapons were hidden in Vikas Dubey’s house after the crime, the ADG said. Shashi Kant led the police to the AK series rifle and 20 rounds found from Dubey’s house which the police had demolished and searched many times. The INSAS rifle was found in Shashi Kant’s house, he said. “The police are looking for the remaining 11 accused on the run since July 3,” the ADG said.
Those still on the run are Gopal Saini and Heeru Dubey, carrying a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh each, and Chhottu Shukla, Shiv Tewari, Ram Singh, Ramu Bajpai, Shivam Dubey, Bal Govind, Bauwan Shukla, Vishnu Pal Yadav and Monu carrying Rs 50,000 each, according to police.