NEW DELHI: The kingpin of Kanpur encounter gangster Vikas Dubey was on Thursday arrested by police from Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh.
Vikas Dubey was going to Ujjain Mahakal temple when he was identified by security personnel. Police were informed, he confessed his identity after being pushed for it. He has been apprehended by police and interrogation is underway, Ujjain collector Ashish Singh was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
"It is a big success for the police, Vikas Dubey is a cruel killer. Whole Madhya Pradesh police were on alert. He has been arrested from Ujjain's Mahakal temple. We have informed Uttar Pradesh police," said Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra.
Confirming the developments, Mishra told reporters that Dubey was in state police custody in Ujjain.
The minister, however, did not confirm if the dreaded gangster, who was carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh on information leading to his arrest, was nabbed from within or outside the Mahakal temple premises.
Earlier today, two aides of Dubey were gunned down in a separate encounter in Uttar Pradesh. While Kartikeya alias Prabhat was killed in Kanpur when he tried to flee from police custody, another aide of Vikas Dubey, Praveen alias Bauwa Dubey, was shot dead in an encounter in Etawah, the police said.
Following his arrest, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that his government will not spare any criminal.
Those who thought by seeking refuge in Mahakaal, they will be able to wash off their sins, they never really understood Mahakaal," the chief minister tweeted in Hindi.
A massive nationwide manhunt was launched following the ambush between UP police and Dubey gang in which 8 cops were killed.
The Bahraich police were on the lookout at Indo-Nepal border areas amid intelligence inputs that gangster Vikas Dubey may escape to the neighbouring country.
On Wednesday, the Haryana Police has arrested three alleged accomplices of Vikas Dubey in a raid at a Faridabad house, which Dubey had left a few hours earlier, officials said.
Eight Uttar Pradesh Police personnel, including a deputy superintendent of police, were killed and seven others injured in a firefight with criminals in Kanpur on the intervening night of July 2 and July 3.
Seven others, including a civilian, were injured in the attack from a rooftop on a police team after it entered Bikru village to arrest Vikas Dubey, a history-sheeter who has about 60 criminal cases against him.
Five persons have so far been killed in separate police encounters since the Kanpur ambush.
Earlier, Amar Dubey was killed in Hamirpur on Wednesday, while Prem Prakash Pandey and Atul Dubey were gunned down in an encounter in Kanpur on July 3.
Vikas Dubey was carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh on information leading to his arrest.
(With inputs from agencies)