Vikas Dubey, head of the gang that laid a trap for the police team in Kanpur, operated like Maoists, a senior police officer said after huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from his house.
“A huge cache of arms and ammunition recovered from the residence of Vikas Dubey, during search. Some of the weapons recovered are licensed under names of people associated with him, but they were used by Vikas. This is similar to how naxals operate,” BK Srivastava, Superintendent of Police, Kanpur Rural told mediapersons on Sunday.
A bunker, two kg of explosives, six country-made pistols, 25 live rounds and shrapnels were found in Dubey’s house when it was demolished by the police.
“Heavy explosives were kept there, it could be so powerful that it would blow up the whole house. He has about 12 licensed weapons in his family. Vikas Dubey used to issue arms licenses in the name of people living with him and then used them for himself,” Srivastava added.
Kanpur inspector general (IG) Mohit Agarwal said that the bunker that Dubey built was stocked with items on which he and his men could have survived for days in case of a prolonged siege. Police had taken the decision to pull down the house following inputs that the criminal had hidden firearms on the premises, he said.
The police are looking for Dubey, who they believe slipped out of Uttar Pradesh before the state’s borders were sealed. UP’s Director General of Police (DGP) Hitesh Chandra Awasthy said that an alert has been sounded in all 75 districts of the state for the arrest of Dubey and the search for the gangster intensified.
Fifty dedicated teams and over 3,000 police personnel across the state have been deployed in a massive manhunt to nab the gangster.
Dubey is the main accused in the case in which eight policemen, part of a team whch had gone to arrest the gangster, were killed after being attacked by his men late on Thursday night.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced Rs 1 crore each ex-gratia for the families of the policemen who were killed in the Bikru village encounter.
