UP gangster was aware of police raid, says aide
KANPUR: An aide of Vikas Dubey has told the police the gangster behind the killings of the eight policemen in Kanpur Dehat district was informed about the raid at his house by a policeman, a senior official said on Sunday.
Daya Shankar Agnihotri, one of the accused in the killings, was arrested earlier in the day after a gunfight in Kalyanpur area near Kanpur city.
The senior official said Agnihotri revealed the information during the interrogation. The 48-year-old Dubey, a hardened criminal who has 60 cases of murder and kidnapping among others, is the main accused in the killing of the policemen.
Agnihotri told the police Vikas Dubey got a call from the Chaubeypur police station informing him that a team from three police stations led by Devendra Mishra, the circle officer of Bilhaur who was among the eight killed in the incident, will come to his village past midnight.
Agnihotri also said that at least 25 people were present with Dubey when the police team approached his house in Kanpur Dehat’s Bikri village.
Police also questioned the man responsible for disconnecting the power supply, a senior police official told news agency PTI, adding that the man confessed to having snapped the power lines on instructions of a caller who claimed that he was calling from the nearby Chaubeypur police station in Kanpur district.
According to sources, the phone number from which the line worker was contacted belongs to the Chaubeypur police station. However, police have not given any information on who ordered the power supply interruption during the raid.
A sub-inspector, who is under the scanner after the failed raid, has been suspended. Officials probing the case questioned Chaubeypur station officer (SO) Vinay Tiwari for nine hours. He was later suspended and shifted to Lucknow.
Chaubeypur, about 14km from Bikru, is the place where an
attempt to murder case was registered against Dubey on Wednesday by a villager. Dubey’s men had fired indiscriminately on the police team out to nab him, killing Mishra, three sub-inspectors and four constables in an ambush that the police said was a “wellplanned conspiracy”.
Officials have said Agnihotri suffered a bullet wound in his right leg in the retaliatory firing by the police team.
He is one of the 18 aides of Dubey named in the FIR lodged in connection with the killing of the policemen.
Police had announced a reward of Rs 25,000 to find him.
“Dayashankar Agnihotri alias Kallu, the main aide of Dubey, has been arrested during an encounter. Agnihotri always used to accompany Dubey and was staying at Dubey’s house,” Inspector General, Kanpur Range, Mohit Agarwal told PTI.
“Agnihotri was carrying a cash reward of ₹25,000. He was named accused in the firing incident on the policemen. In the encounter, he got bullet injuries on his leg,” Agarwal said.
According to news agency ANI, Agnihotri opened fire at the police team going to arrest him on Saturday night. Police have recovered a gun and cartridges from Agnihotri’s possession, it reported.