Kanpur district administration today used bulldozers to demolish a house belonging to Vikas Dubey, the main accused in the cold-blooded murder of eight UP cops on Friday and a notorious criminal mastermind charged in 60 criminal cases. The demolition was done in the presence of Uttar Pradesh police officers.
Vikas Dubey remains missing, over 36 hours after the bloodbath in Bikru village, which is around 150 km from state capital Lucknow.
In visuals of the demolition, a group of armed police officers (some with what appear to be assault rifles) stand guard as a lone black-and-yellow bulldozer breaks down the house.
Large piles of rubble and brick, and half-broken walls, can be seen in the video as the bulldozer goes about its job. Visuals also show empty rooms with the broken roofs and several cars, all white in colour, similarly destroyed.
Meanwhile, the Station House Officer (SHO) of Chaubeypur Police Station, under which Vikas Dubey’s village falls, has been suspended.
“At the time of encounter, he fled the encounter site. Had he faced the criminals, situation could have been different,” Mohit Agarwal, Inspector General (Kanpur Range), was quoted by news agency ANI.
More than 25 police teams have been formed to capture him.
11nm13kc
UP’s notorious criminal mastermind is believed to be politically-connected
The police have also said that a surveillance team is scanning more than 500 mobile phones in an effort to retrieve information pertaining to his current location.
A cash reward of Rs 50,000 has been offered for the same information, with the assurance that the identity of the tipster will be concealed in order to prevent revenge attacks.
Early Friday morning a large police force of around 50 cops, drawn from three police stations, had set out to arrest Vikas Dubey. A raid had been planned at his village after he was named as an accused in a fresh attempt to murder case.
Aware of the impending raid, however, the gangster arranged for road blocks to slow down the cops who, when they did reach the village, were subject to an unexpected deadly crossfire.