Furore after Indian police shoot gangster dead after he surrendered
Dubey allegedly killed to prevent him from revealing powerful connections
Indian police shot dead one of the country’s most wanted gangsters yesterday just a day after his dramatic arrest, sparking accusations of a staged extrajudicial killing.
Officials said Vikas Dubey, detained for the killing of eight police officers, was shot as he tried to escape a police vehicle while being driven to his home city in Uttar Pradesh.
Within hours of TV stations carrying images of his bloodstained body lying in a hospital, rights lawyers and activists alleged that police had killed Dubey to prevent him revealing his connections with powerful people.
“This is the most blatant case of extrajudicial killing. Dubey was a gangster terrorist who may have deserved to die. But (Uttar Pradesh) police have killed him to shut his mouth,” Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan wrote on Twitter.
“Will we allow police to kill anyone without a court trial?” Utsav Bains, another Supreme Court lawyer, added.
Dubey, aged about 50, was accused in more than 60 murders, attempted murders and other cases. He was said to have shot dead an Uttar Pradesh state minister inside a police station in 2001.
On July 3, eight officers were gunned down when Dubey’s gang staged an ambush.
A nationwide manhunt was launched, during which five of Dubey’s associates — including his bodyguard nephew — were killed.