Ambush witness and Vikas Dubey aide’s wife may turn approver, gets cop cover

KANPUR: While slain gangster Vikas Dubey’s wife Richa was let off after a five-hour interrogation, Manu — wife of an arrested henchman Sashikant Pandey — is suddenly holding centrestage in police investigations after the surfacing of back-to-back audio clips in which she was purportedly heard mobilizing menfolk to take sniper position on rooftops and conniving with the don and misleading cops.
After two days of rigorous questioning in detention, Manu, a crucial eyewitness to the Bikru bloodbath, was released on Friday and sent home under heavy police protection. With Manu singing in custody, police sources told TOI, she may be made an approver in the case.
Manu confided to investigators that she and her husband were ready to provide details on the ambush. Police sources told TOI, their statements would be taken under Section 164 CrPC for recording confessions and statements by a magistrate during investigation. After 48-hour detention, Manu was sent back to her Bikru home under heavy police cover on Friday. “Though, she did not make a formal request for protection, two constables have been deployed round-the-clock outside her house after analyzing threat perception,” said a police official. This gives credence to the theory that she’s crucial to the probe and may turn approver, said sources.
“During preliminary interrogation, Manu revealed details on aides who reached the Dubey’s residence on the fateful night and sequence of events leading to the carnage and what happened next. Besides Manu, her mother-in-law was another witness. Manu’s statements will give police crucial leads to investigate and verify multiple murders on the night of July 3,” said a police official. Manu’s husband Sashikant, who was arrested late Monday, had accused the gangster of orchestrating the ambush while talking to reporters. To a query by media persons on what happened on the fateful night, Sashikant had stated, “The shootout was executed at the behest of Dubey.”
He further shared details of other accused, including Vikas Dubey and 25 of his aides involved in killing of eight policemen. He also confessed that three policemen, including slain DSP Devendra Mishra and a sub-inspector were killed and dumped in his house — a fact shared by his wife Manu, in an audio clip that went viral on Tuesday afternoon.
He also told the media that Dubey had even threatened them, saying he will kill them all, if they did not open fire.” Firearms, including semi-automatic guns and 30 Springfield rifle were used in the carnage, he said. SP Rural Brijesh Kumar Srivastava told reporters, “If Manu or her husband Sashikant are made approver, we will serve them a notice for recording their statements.”