BHOPAL/ LUCKNOW: In an early morning turn of events in connection with the Kanpur encounter,
Uttar Pradesh's most wanted gangster Vikas Dubey was nabbed by Ujjain police at the world famous Mahakal Temple, just a short while after he had offered prayers there on Thursday.
However, later in the day, a team of Utar Pradesh Police, led by an Assistant SP level officer of Special Task Force (STF), reached Ujjain and took the gangster into its custody completing all the judicial modalities. The police team from UP is expected to bring Dubey to Kanpur by road.
Notably, Dubey is the main accused of killing eight policemen during an encounter at Bikru village of Chaubeypur police station in Kanpur last week.
As per key sources in Lucknow, during the interrogation carried out by Ujjain police after his arrest, the dreaded criminal conceded his crime and admitted that he ambushed the police party fearing his own encounter in Bikru village in Kanpur on the intervening fateful night of July 2-3.
While being questioned at Ujjain police training centre, the criminal told the interrogators that he had stored gallons full of oil as he had planned to burn the bodies of the deceased cops to destroy the evidence. He had even collected the bodies at one place but failed to execute his plan.
Sources claimed that Dubey admitted to have solid links in the police department. He told Ujjain cops during his run from Chaubeypur to Mahakal, he was duly informed about the police movements and those trailing him.
However, earlier in the morning, the event unfolded with Dubey reaching Mahakal temple and purchasing flowers from a nearby shop. The shopkeeper, named Prakash, suspected him to be the wanted criminal hitting the headlines.
As a result, he even alerted Ujjain police, including Mahakal police outpost at around 7:30 am. Even the private security guards, deployed inside the temple, were also alerted about his presence and they tailed him.
As he reached the exit gate of the temple after 'darshan', he was nabbed by the security guards who asked his name and he told them that he was Shubham. When they asked him to show his identity, he produced the identity of one Navin Paul (28).
As the guards, not convinced with the ID proof, further pressed him to reveal his true identity, he picked up a scuffle with them shouting that he was Vikas Dubey. In the meantime, Ujjain SP Manoj Singh along with his team reached the spot and took the gangster in his custody.
"On being nabbed near the exit gates, he started shouting: I'm Vikas Dubey of Kanpur," said a police officer in Ujjain adding that the history-sheeter criminal might have shouted in full public view to thwart any possibility of his encounter killing with the cops .
According to Gopal, a temple staff, before having darshan, Dubey, who had covered his face with a mask, had asked him whether he could keep his belongings near the Prasad distribution counter. Though the temple staff told him that he could do so on his own responsibility, Dubey left his bag at the counter.
The sources also claimed that the criminal bought a ‘darshan ticket’ for Rs 251 after standing in a queue for quite some time and then offered prayers at the temple. Earlier, he had also asked for a VIP slip revealing his true identity but was told that VIP darshan were not taking place due to pandemic.
However, after being taken into custody, Dubey revealed to Ujjain police during the initial round of interrogation that he was given a shelter in Ujjain by his relative and a local liquor contractor Anand Tiwari, who hailed from Uttar Pradesh.
Dubey also claimed Tiwari had arranged both his night stay at his own house on Wednesday and also his visit to the temple on Thursday morning.
"Tiwari and a few other associates of Dubey have been detained by Ujjain police for questioning in a bid to extract details about his journey from UP to Ujjain, his local links and also those who helped him in reaching madhay Pradesh," Ujjain police sources confided.