Hindustan Times (Ranchi)

Out on raid, 8 policemen shot

- Haidar Naqvi letters@hindustant­imes.com ■

KANPUR DEHAT: Eight policemen, including a deputy superinten­dent and three sub-inspectors, were killed during a raid to nab a criminal in Kanpur Dehat district’s Bikru village in Uttar Pradesh early on Friday, the police said.

Kanpur senior superinten­dent of police (SSP) Dinesh Kumar P confirmed that eight policemen were killed and five injured in the ambush.

Deputy superinten­dent of police Devendra Mishra, sub-inspectors Mahesh Yadav, who was the station officer of Shivrajpur, Anup Kumar, Babulal and constables Sultan Singh, Rahul, Jitendra Pal and Babloo Kumar died in the firing. The killings are the highest casualty for the Uttar Pradesh police in the last 15 years.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has paid his tributes to the eight police personnel and asked the director general of police (DGP) to take the toughest of action against those responsibl­e for the firing. The state government has tasked the STF with nabbing the main accused, Vikas Dubey, and others involved in the shootout.

Opposition parties in the state launched a sharp attack on the Uttar Pradesh government over the incident.

Vikas Dubey and his men ambushed the raiding team, the police said. Dubey is a former

member of Kanpur Dehat zila panchayat with nearly 60 criminal cases against him and a ₹25,000 reward on his capture.

Inspector general of police, Kanpur zone, Mohit Agarwal said police gunned down two of Vikas Dubey’s men in the jungles of Kashiram Nivada village, three kilometres from the shootout site, later in the day.

The SSP said the police team led by circle officer, Bilhaur, Devendra Mishra had gone to arrest Dubey in a case of attempt to murder that a local man, Rohit Tiwari, had filed with the Chaubeypur police station. Bikru vilsomeone lage is 14 km from Chaubeypur.

Director general of police Hitesh Chandra Awasthi, who visited Bikru, said the Special Task Force (STF) was conducting raids at several places. The attack was part of a conspiracy and well thought out, he said. Police would get to the bottom of cowardly act and none will be spared, he added. Forensic teams have completed collecting samples and many teams are working to unravel the case, he added.

The criminals, said to be more than 20 in number, fired nearly 100 rounds in three directions from rooftops after blocking the sole access to the area with a heavy earthmover. The shootout lasted for more than 15 minutes, said the police officers.

Vikas Dubey and his aides had put blockades by parking a heavy earthmover on roads leading to his house in Bikru village. Having turned his village into a fortress, Vikas Dubey allegedly runs his criminal empire with the help of committed supporters in the village, officials said.

“There was retaliator­y firing but criminals were (standing) at a height, so eight of our men died,” the state police chief said.

Taken by surprise, the police team scampered for shelter in middle of the village as they could not have retreated due to the earthmover blocking the road, said an officer who spoke to one of the injured in hospital.

According to him, firing was uninterrup­ted and ended only after all the policemen were either dead or injured.

Before escaping towards the forest nearby, the criminals took away an AK 47 and Insas assault rifles, along with two pistols, issued to the policemen.

All the borders of six districts in Kanpur division have been sealed and a major search operation involving nearly 1500 personnel is going on. “Massive combing operations are being carried out in Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur and the adjoining districts for Vikas Dubey and others involved in the gruesome killing of policemen,” IG Agarwal said.

Later, the police managed to locate five members of the gang in Nivada jungles. Two criminals, identified as Prem Prakash Pandey and Atul Dubey, who looked after Vikas Dubey’s bootleggin­g business, were killed in the gunfight, said the police.

A rifle and a pistol apparently, snatched from the police team at Bikru, was recovered from the scene.

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