Kanpur Encounter: UP Police probes local officers to find mole who tipped-off Vikas Dubey before raid

In the case of the Kanpur encounter, in which a gang of assailants led by notorious criminal Vikas Dubey gunned down eight policemen on late Thursday night, the Uttar Pradesh Police has now turned its attention to investigating officers within the local police force, in order to find out the mole who tipped-off the gangster before the raid by the police team.

The information came to light on this day after Daya Shankar Agnihotri, an accomplice of history-sheeter Vikas Dubey was arrested by the police in Kalyanpur. He revealed before the police that Dubey had received a phone from the police station before the police raided the place to arrest him.

"Vikas Dubey received a phone call from the police station before the police came to arrest him in the wee hours on July 3. Following this, he called around 25-30 people and prepared them for the attack. He fired bullets on police personnel. I was locked inside the house at the time of encounter, therefore, saw nothing," Daya Shankar Agnihotri told police.

The development has led to some wary moves within the local police force, as dubious distrust and sceptical glances rule the day here while the police try to find out the mole who tipped off the criminals.

"All the workers of the local police station are under our scope of investigation on how Vikas Dubey got information about police movement. Whoever is found guilty will be charged with murder," Kanpur Inspector General Mohit Agarwal was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

All the workers of the local police station are under our scope of investigation on how Vikas Dubey got information about police movement. Whoever is found guilty will be charged with murder: Kanpur IG, Mohit Agarwal on Kanpur encounter in which 8 policemen lost their lives pic.twitter.com/c75yQD3g7o

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 5, 2020

As a first, the Station Officer at the Chaubepur police station, Vinay Tiwari, has already been suspended reportedly under suspicion that he had tipped the notorious gangster off about the raid. News agency IANS, citing sources, reported that Tiwari had visited Vikas Dubey's house on Wednesday following a complaint by one Rahul Tiwari, who had been beaten up by the gangster in the presence of the police officer.

Not just this, power was also snapped in the village prior to the raid. During the investigation, Chhatrapal Singh, Operator, Shivli Power Sub-station, who was responsible for disconnecting the power line of the area was questioned. He confessed to disconnecting the power on instructions by a caller who said was calling from Chaubepur police station, ANI reported.

Vikas Dubey is the main accused in the Kanpur encounter case, in which a group of assailants opened fire on a police team which was trying to arrest a criminal in the city late on Thursday night, a senior police official said.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Police have increased the prize money from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh for the arrest of Dubey.

Uttar Pradesh Police on Saturday said that it will seize illegal properties and money in Dubey's bank accounts under the Gangsters Act, following which Lucknow Police seized the vehicles parked at his residence in Lucknow.