Vikas Dubey 'silenced': Chorus for judicial probe into Kanpur climax

The killing of notorious gangster Vikas Dubey in an encounter near Kanpur on Friday (July 10) morning has triggered a fresh set of controversies with Opposition leaders demanding a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the entire episode involving Dubey.

Dubey was shot dead on Friday by police, who claimed he was trying to flee after the car carrying him from Ujjain overturned on an isolated stretch of the highway on the outskirts of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. The SUV met with the accident at Bhaunti, toppling on the road which was slippery after the rains, police claimed.

Police said the gangster snatched a pistol from one of the policemen injured in the accident and was shot when he opened fire while trying to escape, an account now being questioned by the opposition parties. Six police personnel, including two from the Special Task Force, were hurt in the accident and the exchange of fire around 6 am, an official said.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the encounter as well as the ambush in which eight policemen died last week.

2. यह उच्च-स्तरीय जाँच इसलिए भी जरूरी है ताकि कानपुर नरसंहार में शहीद हुए 8 पुलिसकर्मियों के परिवार को सही इन्साफ मिल सके। साथ ही, पुलिस व आपराधिक राजनीतिक तत्वों के गठजोड़ की भी सही शिनाख्त करके उन्हें भी सख्त सजा दिलाई जा सके। ऐसे कदमों से ही यूपी अपराध-मुक्त हो सकता है। 2/2

— Mayawati (@Mayawati) July 10, 2020

“There should be an unbiased probe under the supervision of the Supreme Court into the killing of policemen in Kanpur and the encounter of main accused Vikas Dubey while he was trying to flee when the police vehicle overturned,” Mayawati said in a tweet in Hindi.

In a separate tweet, she said, “This high-level probe is necessary for ensuring justice to eight policemen killed in Kanpur and to identify the nexus between police and criminal political elements. By such steps, UP can become crime free.”

दरअसल ये कार नहीं पलटी है, राज़ खुलने से सरकार पलटने से बचाई गयी है.

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 10, 2020

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav said in tweet that the car did not topple but it was an effort to save the government from toppling if facts came to light.

अपराधी का अंत हो गया, अपराध और उसको सरंक्षण देने वाले लोगों का क्या?

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) July 10, 2020

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took a swipe at the UP government, saying while the criminal has gone, what about those protecting him. In a tweet in Hindi, the Congress leader said, “The criminal has gone, but what about the crime and those protecting him.”

She had earlier demanded a CBI probe to ascertain the facts about “grant of protection” to Dubey. She had also accused the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh of “complete failure” in handling the Kanpur ambush case in which eight policemen were killed. She had alleged that the chain of events in the case exposed the chinks in security and hinted at collusion.

Related news: India should fear UP’s ‘sabka Vikas (Dubey), sabka encounter’ culture

Her party has also demanded a judicial probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge into the entire episode to bring out the truth about those who had granted protection to him and the alleged political-criminal nexus in Uttar Pradesh.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said at a press conference that the killing of the gangster in an encounter raises several questions and sought answers on who were the people sitting in echelons of power who were granting protection to criminals like him.

“The Congress demands that the unholy nexus between organised crime and the ilk of Vikas Dubey with those sitting in the echelons of power be probed by a sitting Supreme Court judge,” Surjewala said at a press conference. Gandhi too demanded a judicial probe by a sitting SC judge into the entire Kanpur episode.

उप्र की कानून-व्यवस्था बदतर हो चुकी है। राजनेता-अपराधी गठजोड़ प्रदेश पर हावी है। कानपुर कांड में इस गठजोड़ की सांठगांठ खुलकर सामने आई।

कौन-कौन लोग इस तरह के अपराधी की परवरिश में शामिल हैं- ये सच सामने आना चाहिए।

सुप्रीम कोर्ट के मौजूदा जज से पूरे कांड की न्यायिक जाँच होनी चाहिए pic.twitter.com/vRHQlsaJ3y

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) July 10, 2020

“The Congress demands a judicial inquiry by a sitting Supreme Court judge that should conduct a probe into the entire Kanpur incident and bring out its truth before people. The truth about those who nurtured and protected criminals like Vikas Dubey should come out. Till the time this truth and the nexus between politicians and criminals does not come out, justice will not be done to those eight policemen who were killed by him,” she said in a video statement on Twitter.

The Trinamool Congress too came down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh government over the Kanpur climax, with senior party leader and parliamentarian Mahua Moitra asserting that justice is the “only thing killed” in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s “encounter raj.”

It is the job of the courts to deliver justice.
It is the job of the police to deliver the accused.
Shocking that India under @BJP has confused the two. https://t.co/QYu6zO026b

— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) July 10, 2020

Only thing killed in Yogiji’s “encounter Raj” is justice!

— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) July 10, 2020

“It is the job of the courts to deliver justice. It is the job of the police to deliver the accused. Shocking that India under @BJP has confused the two,” Moitra said in a tweet. “Only thing killed in Yogiji’s “encounter Raj” is justice!” she added in another tweet.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that there was no need to shed tears over the killing of gangster Vikas Dubey in an encounter and wondered why the police action was being questioned.

Related news: Last visuals of Vikas Dubey contradict police statements

“Dubey had killed eight policemen. Attack on the uniform means there is no law and order. Taking strict action is the need of that states police be it in Maharashtra or Uttar Pradesh. There is no need to shed tears over the killing of Dubey in an encounter. Why is the police action being questioned?” the Rajya Sabha MP asked.

Dubey was the sixth man to die in encounter after the ambush he allegedly masterminded in Kanpur’s Bikru village past midnight on July 2, killing eight policemen who had come to arrest him. Madhya Pradesh police arrested him outside the Mahakal temple in Ujjain on Thursday morning and handed him over to an UP police team late in the evening.

(With inputs from agencies)