Former senior cops outraged, call for inquiry into Dubey encounter

NEW DELHI: Vikas Dubey’s death in an encounter has left former top cops across the country disappointed and fuming. They called the incident “unfortunate”, “outrageous”, “untenable in a civilised society” and called for an inquiry given the “circumstances under which it happened” and that it indicated a “growing culture of custodial deaths and encounters”.
UP ex-DGP Prakash Singh called it unfortunate and disappointing. “Unfortunate, because Dubey’s interrogation would have helped expose the criminal-politician nexus. Disappointing, because this is not how such a high-profile accused is handled in custody,” he said. Singh, known for initiating police reforms across the country through a PIL in Supreme Court, said with Yogi Adityanath as CM he was sure Dubey would have been punished in a court through fasttrack trial. “That would have set a good example,” he said.
Former Kerala DGP N C Asthana called it an “outrageous story”. “The vehicle is seen lying conveniently on its side, all doors closed. Note the road condition. No reason to overturn so softly. Open fields all around. Even a fool with a paunch would not consider running away in open,” tweeted Asthana. “The man supposedly climbed out of an overturned van though injured, ran for life, had an exchange of fire with police and eventually got killed. But the mask remained in place. Took the corona orders seriously. Police ko mask to utaar dena tha to make it realistic.”
Former UP DGP Bikram Singh called for a fair inquiry into the assets accumulated by Dubey to establish how many IAS, IPS officers and politicians benefited from him. “No one is a saint here. Today, many households in Kanpur won’t cook a meal,” he said.
Some, however, differ. Former Mumbai encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma said “such hardened criminals deserve to meet such a fate”. Delhi police ex-commissioner Neeraj Kumar said questions are raised after every encounter. “But no one raises a question when a policeman gets killed by a criminal.”