Kanpur encounter: Gang attack on cops sudden and unprovoked, says ADG

The guilty will be brought to book and Uttar Pradesh Police will leave nothing to chance to ensure that the accused get the harshest punishment under the law. This is how additional director general (law and order) described the police action that will follow against perpetrators of the ghastly attack in which eight policemen were killed in an operation in Kanpur during the intervening night of Thursday and Friday.
Talking to TOI ADG (law & order) Prashant Kumar cleared the air over some unanswered questions related to the incident. Excerpts:
How do you look at the encounter in Kanpur in which eight policemen were martyred during the intervening night of Thursday and Friday. Was it a hurriedly planned operation that went wrong?
• It was not a hurriedly planned operation at all. Circle officer, Bilhaur, a DySP-ranked officer had led a police team comprising cops from three police stations for a raid. The attack was sudden and unprovoked because the police teams were yet to reach the house of Vikas Dubey when the criminals opened fire.
Does that suggest that the attackers were aware of the police teams approaching for a raid?
• We are yet to come across some evidence to back that hypothesis.
But how would one explain the fact that a JCB machine was parked in the middle of the road blocking the movement of the police barely 25 meters away from the house of Vikas Dubey and that the high mast light near his house was also switched off.
• Forensic experts from Lucknow and Kanpur along with teams from Special Task Force (STF) have been deputed to find out what exactly happened before the attack. We will trace the phones that were active just before the attack and investigators will try to reconstruct the sequence of events that followed before the police were attacked. Once we have these details backed with evidence then only we will be able to say anything with authority. We are also trying to find out the extent of support that the accused enjoyed from the local residents.
Is there a possibility that some local residents saw the police vehicles and informed Vikas about a possible raid and he decided to confront the policemen?
• It would be better if we wait for the forensic reports and give some time to the investigators from the police and STF to collect evidence before ruling out anything. We will go by the facts that emerge during the probe.
What is the nature of injuries that the policemen have suffered in the attack and what does it suggest.
• Most of them have suffered gunshot wounds. Some of them have pellet injuries as well. It will be too early to deduce that the attack was unleashed using an AK series rifle or other sophisticated weapons but we have had found more than two dozen bullet shells of various bores.
The attackers are alleged to have decamped with the weapons of the policemen who were shot. An AK-47 and INSAS each along with two pistols are said to be missing?
• That’s correct. But extensive searches are under way and with the kind of leads that we have in hand, we are hopeful of a breakthrough in the near future. One thing that I can say with authority is that the guilty will not be spared and it is just a matter of time.