Kanpur ambush: Entire police station under scanner, 68 cops shunted out

In an effort to put the house in order, all 68 police personnel at the Chaubeypur police station in Kanpur were shunted to the reserve police lines on Tuesday (July 7) with the top brass saying they suspected their integrity after last week’s ambush which killed eight policemen.

A spokesperson said an inquiry was already on and action would be taken against the guilty based on its findings.

The drastic move Tuesday night followed soon after police announced the transfer of a DIG, who till recently was the Senior Superintendent of Police in Kanpur. He was transferred from the state’s Special Task Force (STF) to the Provincial Armed Police (PAC) unit in Moradabad.

The police also arrested three more people in connection with the killing of the eight police personnel, ambushed early Friday when they were out on a raid to arrest gangster Vikas Dubey in his Bikru village near Kanpur.

Dubey’s relative Shama, neighbour Suresh Verma, and domestic help Rekha were arrested earlier in the day. Rekha’s husband, Dayashankar Agnihotri, a key member of Dubey’s gang, is already behind bars, arrested Sunday after an encounter in which police shot him in the leg. Two other alleged members of the gang were killed in an encounter last Friday.

The police believe that the gangster was tipped off by someone from Chaubeypur police station, giving him time to lay an ambush. Station Officer Vinay Tiwari and three other policemen are already under suspension.

No reasons were given for shifting of DIG Anant Deo. But only hours earlier, Inspector General (Civil Defence) Amitabh Thakur made it known that he has written to state police chief H.C. Awasthy seeking an inquiry against Deo and his transfer while the probe is on.

Thakur alleged that as SSP, Deo was close to an associate of gangster Vikas Dubey.

Lucknow Range IG Lakshmi Singh on Tuesday began a probe into it, visiting the office of Circle Officer (Bilhaur), the post held by the killed DSP. The IG questioned the staff, checked records, computer data, and also seized a computer hard disk, pen drives and some documents, an official said.

Police have named 21 people in the FIR registered after the attack. The FIR also mentioned 50-60 unidentified people.

The Kanpur police released the photos of 15 criminals said to be close to Dubey. They are putting up posters carrying the pictures of these alleged criminals, most of them carrying a reward of ₹25,000 for their arrest. Vikas Dubey, with a reward of ₹2.50 lakh on him, remained elusive.

The Uttar Pradesh government has further slapped stringent charges under the National Security Act against 88 alleged gangsters in the past one week in a drive launched against criminals in the wake of the encounter.