Kanpur encounter: Three more cops suspended; bounty for Vikas Dubey's arrest increased to Rs 2.5 lakh

Kanpur/Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh police have suspended three more of their men, suspecting that they tipped off Vikas Dubey whose gang members killed eight policemen in an ambush at a village near Kanpur last week. Police on Monday also increased the reward for Dubey arrest to Rs 2.5 lakh, up from the Rs 1 lakh offered earlier. UP Director General of Police HC Awasthy said police are conducting raids to track down the gangster, based on information they get. Police had earlier suspended Vinay Tiwari, station officer at Chaubeypur station and were examining the possibility that he informed Dubey that a police team was heading to Bikru village to arrest him. The gangster, who has faced about 60 criminal cases over the years, then allegedly set up an ambush for the policemen, killing eight of them in the early hours of Friday. Kanpur’s Senior Superintendent of Police Dinesh Kumar P said more Chaubeypur policemen have now been suspended. “Three police personnel have been suspended for their suspected role in leakage of information,” he said. They are sub-inspectors Kunwarpal and Krishna Kumar Sharma and constable Rajiv. “A preliminary enquiry has been initiated against the three suspended policemen,” he said. The Superintendent of Police (Rural Area) has been asked to probe the matter. He said an FIR would be lodged against the suspended policemen if the inquiry showed their involvement in the attack at Bikru village. A police officer said all three policemen had accompanied the then Chaubeypur station officer Vinay Tiwari in the raid, meant to arrest Vikas Dubey following a complaint by local businessman Rahul Tiwari that he was thrashed by the alleged gangster. On Sunday, police arrested Vikas Dubey’s alleged accomplice Dayashankar Agnihotri , who said that the gangster had summoned his men after learning from someone at the police station that policemen were on their way to arrest him. Hours after the failed raid on Thursday-Friday night, police had killed two alleged accomplices of the gangster in an encounter. Vikas Dubey, however, remained on the run.