LUCKNOW: He wanted to surprise the police administration with his ‘fire prowess’ and planned something ‘big’ this time to teach cops a lesson. So, after getting the tip-off about an imminent action, at least, a day in advance by his informers in the department, dreaded gangster Vikas Dubey gathered
along with a clan of henchmen to strike in such a way so as to put even the ‘notoriety’ to shame.
So it happened in Bikru village on July 2/3. Eight cops fell in the line of duty exposing the chasms in the police armour. The weapons were moved to the rooftops and bullets in excess piled up.
Around 30 henchmen gathered at his sprawling house a night before. “Dinner was cooked for over 40 people including the army of shooters and servants, a night before the ambush. All were sensitized by the ‘don of Shivli’ (a moniker which Dubey would carry with pride) for a hard battle ahead. Then all were fed and liquor flowed freely. Dubey had already told them that he meant business this time and all of them were mentally prepared to take on the police, said a highly placed source while sharing the details of the interrogation of Dubey by STF on way back Kanpur.
Dubey, who had graduated to qualify as a gangster overnight after Bikru ambush, had set everything in place on July 2. The plan for the big action was executed in the following night killing eight cops, injuring seven others and looting five police weapons.
The gangster, however, met a similar gruesome incident a week later on July 10 when he fell to STF bullets.
The sources claimed that the gangster was responding nonchalantly to the posers by the investigation officer. He did not blink even for a moment during the night-long journey from Ujjain to Kanpur. He was continuously inquisitive about the police action after netting him in Ujjain. Dubey had believably told cops that he was planning to surrender and was in touch with a few lawyers but before that, he was nabbed at Mahakal temple.
While revealing the scene before July 3 ambush, Dubey admitted that he was getting regular inputs from the police about the developments and the minutest information about the formation of the police team which had to strike to nab him in a case of attempt to murder.
Dubey himself checked all the licensed weapons of his henchmen and ensured that the stock of bullets was adequate. He even claimed that he arranged 50 more bullets of different bores. There were around 30-35 firearms licences issued to his accomplices and close relatives in 2007 onwards, said a source.
As the police team led by Billhaur CO Devendra Mishra reached the village and approached the premises of the gangster, they were ambushed and what followed them was a hail of bullets for the next 15 minutes. The gangster claimed that his men did not give the police party time to act. They fired aggressively and many, including CO Mishra, were shot from very close range, Dubey had admitted. He revealed that he used the occasion to settle the score with Billhaur CO with whom he had an animosity for the past 22 years.
He had even conceded that one of his aides named Babban Shukla was the first to reach the road and shot four cops. As per the Kanpur police, the criminals had fired close to 100 rounds in 15 minutes.
Dubey even claimed that he had stored over 50 litres of oil in advance as he had plans to burn the bodies of the dead cops. Around five bodied were piled up in the nearby toilet and others were being brought when his men spotted a number of vehicles on the main road. Suspecting them to be police reinforcement, Dubey left Bikru for Shivli on a motorbike.