LUCKNOW: While Special Investigation Team (SIT) has commenced its probe into the Kanpur encounter where eight policemen including a Deputy SP were killed by gangster Vikas Dubey's henchmen in Bikru village, the investigators are contemplating to make the wife of one of Dubey’s close aides an approver in the case.
As per the police sources, the probe team is planning action against Manu Pandey, wife of Shashikant Pandey, a cousin and close aide of the slain gangster. Shashikant’s father Prem Prakash Pandey was killed in police action in an adjoining forest area of Bikru village a few hours after the encounter of cops on July 3.
However, Shashikant was taken into custody on July 15 for his alleged involvement in firing on the police from the rooftop of Vikas Dubey's house. Shashikant’s wife Manu hit the headlines when some of her audio clips went viral where she is heard calling up her father-in-law Prem Prakash and discussing the preparations for the ambush.
She is even heard asking Prem Prakash to take a position on the rooftop.
In another clip, Manu is heard talking to her other relatives and discussing the details of the case and modus operandi of concealing the facts from the police. She was heard informing her sister-in-law that two cops have been killed and lying at her doorstep. One body was lying in her courtyard.
The police sources claimed that the authorities may accept Manu as an approver in the case as she was one of the eye-witnesses of the gun battle that ensued on the intervening night of July 2/ 3 night in Bikru village.
Both Manu and her husband Shashikant had informed the investigators that they were ready to help them in providing details with regard to Bikru ambush, sources said.
Police sources further said their statements would be taken under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (recording of confessions and statements by a magistrate in the course of an investigation).
Manu was detained by Kanpur police on Wednesday but was released after questioning on Thursday evening. She had been sent back to her home amid heavy police security, said a senior police official.
Moreover, two police constables were deployed at her residence evaluating the threat to her and her family, said the police source.
Meanwhile, Manu’s husband Shashikant admitted to his role in the ambush claiming that he was also firing from the rooftops at the behest of Dubey. He reportedly shared details of other accused including the slain gangster and his two dozen aides, who were involved in killing eight policemen.
He conceded to the police authorities that three policemen, including deputy SP Devendra Mishra, an S-I, were killed in his house. He claimed that he was coerced by Dubey to fire or else he would have killed all of them. He further stated that there were all types of firearms including semi-automatic guns and 30 Spring field rifle used in executing the killings of eight policemen.