Uttar Pradesh's Most Wanted Vikas Dubey didn't figure in list of criminals

Lucknow:The political connections of Vikas Dubey, the main accused in the killing of eight police personnel in Kanpur on Friday, were so strong that his name did not figure in the list of top ten criminals of the district even though he has 71 criminal cases registered against his name.

His name also does not figure in the STF list of over 30 top criminals of the state that was released earlier this year. Kanpur SSP Dinesh Kumar said that he had been informed that the police team was going to arrest an accused with circle officer Bilhaur heading the operation.

He admitted that he was not aware of Vikas Dubey's criminal antecedents at the time of the operation which went horribly wrong and led to the death of eight policemen.

Dinesh Kumar, who took over as SSP Kanpur barely a few days ago, has now ordered that all lists of criminals be updated without delay.

Vikas Dubey, till Friday, was just another name in the underworld of Uttar Pradesh. His 'stature' remained largely unknown to the people of the state even though he had heinous crime registered against his name. He was a quiet operator and, therefore, did not figure in the list of known mafias of the state.

Dubey, in his early fifties, hit the headlines first in 2001 when he killed BJP leader Santosh Shukla inside the Shivli police station in Kanpur. Shukla was minister of state in the UP government when he was killed. However, Dubey was later acquitted by a session court for want of evidence against him. As per the reports, even policemen had refused to testify against him in the court.

Dubey is also accused of planning his cousin brother Anurag's murder while being inside Mati jail in 2018. He was one of the four accused named by Anurag's wife. After this, he chose the path of crime that would, one day, take him closer to politics.

Dubey, a resident of Bikru village in Kanpur, was apparently emboldened by his acquittal and he started off by getting together a group of youth and set up his own gang. As the cases of robbery, kidnapping, and murders mounted against him, Vikas made sure that his clout also grew in proportion.

The need of local politicians to seek his help in elections brought him closer to the people in power. The local MPs and MLAs ensured that Vikas was kept in good humour because his influence would help them win elections.

His political mentors ensured that he had an easy access to other politicians. He even managed to win the nagar panchayat elections in 2015. As his mentors changed loyalties and parties, so did Vikas. Dubey was frequently seen in the Vidhan Bhawan complex when the assembly would be in session. He was seen in the company of politicians, across the political spectrum.

From BSP, he went to SP and was even inching closer to the BJP in recent months. A photograph of a poster in which Vikas is seen campaigning for his wife, Richa Dubey, on the Samajwadi Party banner, has been going viral on the social media. His photograph with Uttar Pradesh Law Minister Brijesh Pathak, are also announcing his proximity to the politician.

According to reliable sources, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed intelligence agencies to submit a list of all politicians, police personnel, officers and others who were patronizing Vikas Dubey.

The diktat comes after photographs of the gangster with various political leaders started going viral on the social media.

In the past years, Dubey gradually strengthened his hold in the Bilhaur, Shivrajpur, Chaubepur, Rania areas of Kanpur. According to a source, Vikas Dubey was determined to make it big in the underworld and politics too. "He wanted to become a MLA and then an MP. He would often say that he would reach Parliament soon. He enjoyed considerable clout with local politicians and it was because of this that the police did not 'interfere' in his activities," said one who belongs to Bikru village.

He said that Vikas had amassed a lot of property in the region and reportedly owned property in Lucknow and Noida too. He also had a fascination for latest weapons.

His relations in the family, however, were said to be strained. His own mother has almost disowned him after Friday's incident and said that he deserved to die. His younger brother has also disowned him.

A team of officials visited the Krishna Nagar residence of Vikas Dubey. His brother's family had left the house which was locked. A LDA official said, "We went to the house because the plan of the same is not approved by the LDA. We will be sending a notice to the owners and will then demolished the unauthorised construction."

The state government, on Saturday, had razed the house of the gangster in Bikru village where eight police personnel had been shot dead on Friday.