LUCKNOW: Like any other farmer, Vikas Dubey loved the land where he grew up in Bikru village, Kanpur (about 150 km from Lucknow), and hated anyone who could even raise his voice against his father.
He made much of it clear quite early in his life – in 1990, he violently clashed with the Chaudharys of neighbouring Dibba Niwada village to avenge insult to his father.
The ‘Shivli-ka-Don’ faces over 60 cases of murder, attempt-to-murder and extortion.
Such is his terror in the village that no one has yet come out openly against the don. Said to own at least a dozen properties in Kanpur’s rural areas, Dubey is a Brahmin, something he used to the hilt while flirting with politicians across all parties.
As he graduated to notoriety, his clout across political parties, including BJP, BSP and the SP, also rose.
In 2001, Dubey was allegedly involved in the gruesome murder of a BJP leader, Santosh Shukla, who was gunned him down inside a police station.
He earned the moniker of ‘Shivli-ka-don’ 20 years back, when he was named in the killing of Siddeshwar Pandey, an assistant manager at Tarachand Inter College, located in Shivli police station area of Kanpur.
He was sentenced for life in the case. Yet, the same year, he was booked for plotting the murder of one Rambabu Yadav in Kanpur from inside the jail.