Lucknow, July 10 (TIWN) Vikas Dubey was a relatively unknown name in Uttar Pradesh and its underworld till Friday, July 3.

 With this, the week-long saga which began after the killing of eight policemen in Bikru village near Kanpur has come to an end. Dubey’s men had killed these policemen on the intervening night of July 2 and 3 when they went to arrest the gangster in connection with an attempt to murder case.  The complaint was filed by a resident of Bikru village, who claimed that Dubey tried to kidnap and eliminate him. Reports emerged that the complainant, Rahul Tiwari, first went to Dubey’s house with a policeman - SHO of Chaubeypur police station Vinay Tiwari - but they were both beaten up and threatened by the notorious criminal.

The SHO did not tell anyone about the incident, a mistake that proved costly. It later emerged that the cop was regularly in touch with Dubey and provided him will all the updates about police action being planned against him. Deputy Superintendent of Police Devendra Mishra - who was killed in the July 3 encounter - had even prepared a report against the SHO and sent to his senior in March (HT had seen a copy of the letter) complaining of him being hand in glove with Dubey but no action was taken then.

The SHO was finally suspended on Wednesday and later he along with a sub-inspector KK Sharma were arrested for allegedly being part of the entire conspiracy.  Mishra, meanwhile, prepared a team of 20 officials (including some others from the nearby police stations) and went to Bikru village to arrest Dubey. But the gangster was already aware of the raid, and was prepared to take on the team.  When Mishra’s police team reached the village, it found the road near Dubey’s house blocked by an earthmover. As soon as the members of the team got down, Dubey’s men rained bullets on them from the rooftops - a scene straight out of a movie. The cops were caught unaware and couldn’t find a place to save themselves.

Some of them tried to hide in a toilet nearby, but the bullets kept grazing past them. Eight of them were killed, including Mishra, and Dubey fled the village.  A massive manhunt then began and the police formed more than 40 teams to capture Dubey who used different modes of transport, including motorcycles, an SUV, sand-laden trucks and taxis, to escape. He first went to Haryana’s Faridabad where he was caught on a CCTV footage installed at the hotel.  Dubey kept giving slip to the cops, who in the meanwhile razed his house and eliminated five of his close aides. All the men connected to Dubey were questioned and help sought from other state governments too where Dubey went.

He was arrested on Thursday in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain. Dubey was seen at the famous Mahakal temple where he arrived around 7.30 am in a private car having UP registration number. After purchasing a ticket worth Rs 250 for VIP darshan of the deity, Dubey went to a shop selling flowers and prasad, where the seller, Suresh Mali, identified the gangster, news agencies reported.  The police was informed and Dubey arrested. The man with more than 60 cases including 11 murders, and wanted for the killing of the eight policemen, was handed over to Uttar Pradesh Police which was tasked with bringing him back to Kanpur.  On Friday, while the convoy was on its way to Kanpur, it met with an accident in which one of the vehicles in the Special Task Force (STF) overturned.