Lucknow: The arrest of notorious gangster Vikas Dubey from Ujjain’s Maha Kal temple on Thursday morning raises many more questions than it answers.
Dubey, who evaded the Uttar Pradesh police for six days after killing eight of its men at his village compound in Kanpur Dehat, fell into the custody of the Madhya Pradesh police under quite dramatic circumstances. No wonder, his “arrest” is being seen with a lot of skepticism across the political spectrum. Sure enough, it has saved him from what he perhaps feared most – a police encounter that was clearly on the cards ever since he was on the run after gunning down a deputy superintendent of police, three sub-inspectors and four constables almost a week ago.
While officers from multiple police stations in Uttar Pradesh and the Special Task Force (STF) sleuths had been running a wild goose chase, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan surprised his UP counterpart Yogi Adityanath with the news of Dubey’s arrest from Ujjain. The arrest was seen as a slap on the face of the UP police, who swore to get Dubye dead or alive. Their desperation became visible in the manner the UP top brass went about raising the bounty on Dubey’s head on a nearly daily basis from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 5 lakh.
The frustration of the UP police was demonstrated in the demolition of Dubey’s sprawling ‘kothi’ over which the cops ran bull-dozers, unmindful of the destruction of all evidence at the scene of crime. On second thoughts they sought to justify the action by claiming recovery of explosives supposed to have been embedded in the walls of the building. But when it came to listing the items recovered, these turned out to be just 2 kilos of very ordinary explosives, 1 kg of iron nails and four country-made guns – not the sort of recovery one would make from the lair of a big don.
The only saving grace of UP police today was the arrest of the gangster’s wife, Richa Dubey, who happens to be an elected member of the zila panchayat. Earlier yesterday, they managed to shoot down two of Dube’s close aides in separate encounters – one of them, Prabhat Mishra, in dubious circumstances, as N.C. Asthana, a former director general of police in Kerala, tweeted:
Pathetic story! The whole system, from top to bottom, is intellectually so bankrupt that they cannot tell even a lie convincingly.
By the way, orders are that cops must secure their weapons by lanyards to prevent snatching. Moreover, dangerous criminals shud hve bn handcuffed. https://t.co/5qQVMAHV2B— Dr. N. C. Asthana, IPS (Retd) (1986-2019) (@NcAsthana) July 9, 2020
In Ujjain, Dubey’s body language at the time of the much-hyped “arrest” reflected the relief of a man who had succeeded in his mission. ”I am Vikas Dubey of Kanpur”, he went about announcing, with the obvious intent of saving his skin from any trigger-happy cop. But confidence and satisfaction was writ large on his face as he was seen being escorted by half a dozen policemen in the Madhya Pradesh temple town.
The story of his arrest, narrated by MP home minister Narottam Mishra, appears weak and unconvincing. Mishra told TV channels ,”It was a flower seller who first suspected Dubey’s identity and instantly informed temple security, who in turn called the local police to nab him.” Interestingly, the gangster himself remained oblivious of all that and blissfully walked into the hands of the police when they arrived.
Mishra’s ‘flower seller’ story has few takers. After all, there were no posters of the gangster on public display anywhere in the state, even though there is no doubt that the UP police had alerted their counterparts about him. After all, it was common knowledge that Dubey’s had his in-laws in MP and that his political connection on that side of the border as well.
Dubey is understood to have already spilled some beans in his initial interrogation by the MP police. Meanwhile, the UP police has reached Ujjain to seek Dubey’s transit remand and return back to Uttar Pradesh. For wanted men with tales to tell, such ‘transit’ is fraught with risk. Dubey’s associate, Prabhat Mishra, was shot dead on the journey back to UP. By allowing himself to be taken in to custody in a public place, Dubey has discredited the ‘shot while trying to escape’ scenario in advance.