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UP To Probe Killing Of Vikas Dubey, Associates In Encounters With Cops

UP government had set up a SIT to probe Vikas Dubey’s rise to notoriety but the SIT was not tasked with investigating the circumstances surrounding his death

Lucknow: An independent one-member commission will investigate the death of Vikas Dubey, the Uttar Pradesh gangster who was shot dead last week as he tried to escape police custody following a car accident.

The commission will be headed by a retired judge and will submit a report within two months, the Uttar Pradesh government said Sunday afternoon.

On Saturday the government also set up a SIT (special investigation team) to probe Dubey’s rise to notoriety. The SIT was, however, not tasked with probing events surrounding his death.

It will consist of a senior IAS officer and two cops and has been directed to submit its report by July 31.

Several questions have emerged over the police’s version of events that led to Vikas Dubey’s death. Videos and witness accounts have underlined the questions that, so far, have no answers from the police

Police said Vikas Dubey, who was being transported to Kanpur after his arrest in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, tried to escape after the vehicle he was in met with an accident.

In their statement, the cops said they tried to get him to surrender but he fired at them, forcing them to retaliate. The police had to fire back in self-defence, they added.

Among the questions being asked are why the car Vikas Dubey was being transported in was switched and why a dangerous criminal was not handcuffed.

The manner of Dubey’s death has also been questioned by opposition leaders; more presciently, a petition in the Supreme Court after his arrest feared he might be killed in an "encounter".

Prior to Dubey’s arrest five of his accomplices were killed in encounters.

Meanwhile, ongoing inquiries into the bloodbath at Bikru village near Kanpur have suggested that several police officers were part of Dubey’s "deep-rooted" criminal network.

The officer in-charge of the Chaubeypur Police Station, which has jurisdiction over the village, was arrested last week. Vinay Tiwari is accused of tipping off Dubey to the raid and allegedly watered down charges against in earlier cases. A sub inspector from the same station, KK Sharma, was also arrested.

In addition, four more cops from the Chaubeypur station have been suspended and at least 30 other police officers are being investigated.

On Snday the wife of Sub Inspector KK Sharma moved the Supreme Court, seeking protection for her husband citing the deaths of Dubey and his aides in encounters.

In her petition she said: "... the extra judicial killings... shows conduct and modus operandi of all agencies responsible for investigation of the present FIR. It is clearly evident that institutions tasked with the protection of law and order in the state have taken law into their own hands".

Vikas Dubey faced 60 criminal cases, including 20 cases of murder and attempt to murder and at least 19 cases of rioting. He was arrested Thursday morning at a temple in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain.