2 cops arrested for tipping off Vikas Dubey ahead of Kanpur operation; reward on gangster increased to Rs 5 lakh as more gangmen get killed and arrested

Both Tiwari and Sharma had been suspended soon after the incident, after their involvement was ascertained from their call details and information provided by Dubey's aide Daya Shankar Agnihotri who was arrested last Sunday.
 

Tiwari and Dubey allegedly informed Dubey, who was present in his native village Bikaru, 14 kms from Chaubeypur police station, about the surprise police raid to arrest him.
 

The notorious gangster, who is wanted in over 60 cases of murder, loot, extortion, blocked the road to the village with his men using logs, boulders and an earth mover, forcing the police team to leave their vehicles and enter the village on foot. The criminals managed to gun down eight policemen and injure seven.

Following the incident, the higher ups of the police department were quick to realise there had been informers within and swung into action to identify them.
 

Late on Tuesday, Kanpur's Senior Superintendent of Police Dinesh Kumar P, removed the entire staff of Chaubeypur police station, comprising 68 police personnel, and sent them to police lines, media reports said.
 

Tiwari and Sharma have been charged under Section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code for conspiring to kill the policeman, he said.

Among the policemen transferred, is former Kanpur SSP and DIG STF Anant Deo Tewari, a Hindustan Times report said. During the investigation a controversial letter of slain Dy SP Devendra Mishra surfaced in which he had sought action against Station Officer Vinay Tiwari of Chaubeypur police station, but allegedly Anant Deo Tewari had ignored the complaint.
 

Meanwhile, police gunned down Vikas Dubey's close aide and nephew Amar Dubey in an encounter in Uttar Pradesh's Hamirpur near Artara village under Maudaha police station in the early hours of Wednesday.
 

UP Special Task Force (STF) said Amar Dubey was a co-accused in the Kanpur incident and was carrying a reward of Rs 25,000.

A police inspector and constable of the STF were injured in the gun fight.
 

Another gang member of Vikas Dubey, Shyamu Bajpai, was arrested in Chaubeypur today. Bajpai, who was also carrying a cash reward of Rs 25,000, was shot in his leg, reports said.
 

The Uttar Pradesh Police had said on Tuesday that 40 police teams and the STF were hunting Vikas Dubey, reported the media.
 
Three persons close to the gangster were also arrested from Haryana's Faridabad in a joint operation by the Uttar Pradesh Police, STF and the local crime branch.   

Dubey was spotted in a car with his men in Bijnor on Monday night, a senior police officer told Hindustan Times.

The Uttar Pradesh police increased the bounty on the most-wanted criminal Vikas Dubey to Rs 5 lakhs on Wednesday.
 

During the past six days, reward on the dreaded gangster has been hiked several times from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000, then to Rs 1 lakh and again to Rs 2.50 lakh on Tuesday.

An HT report said he was seen in Faridabad where he had tried to take a hotel room, whose CCTV footage went viral, said a police official.
 

Meanwhile UP STF is questioning Raju Khullar alias Raju Nigam, brother of Vikas Dubey's wife Richa, in Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh. Raju is a co-accused along with Dubey in the killing of politician Santosh Shukla, the HT report added.

Dubey's wife and their two children are also missing from their Lucknow residence and were last traced to east UP’s Chandauli district in Bihar border, said the report.