Vikas Dubey encounter: Late gangster's aides try to sell weapons through links in Madhya Pradesh

BHOPAL: Eight months after he was gunned down in an alleged encounter on Kanpur's outskirts by the Uttar Pradesh Police's Special Task Force, slain gangster Vikas Dubey and his gang are still said to have loyalists in Madhya Pradesh.

Two men, Abhishek Sharma and Jaggu Kushwah, both natives of Mehgaon and Bhind Dehat area of Bhind district were arrested by the police on Saturday and two guns belonging to the slain gangster's gang were seized from them.

One of the two guns was a semi-automatic rifle of US make, while the other gun was a 12 bore double barrel gun. Both the seized guns were licensed weapons owned by Dubey's kin and gang members. One of the guns was licensed in the name of Dubey's brother Deepak Dubey, who had quietly surrendered before a Lucknow court in December 2020, five months after his most wanted brother's arrest and encounter.

According to IG (Chambal Range) Manoj Sharma, the two men had been tasked to sell the two guns to interested people, particularly the semi-automatic rifle which was likely to fetch prices running into lakhs of rupees.

Among the arrested duo, Sharma is also accused in the theft of 14 guns from the safe custody of the Bhind district court a year and half back. 12 of those guns have been seized so far. The recent arrest comes close on the heels of the arrest of seven men by the Uttar Pradesh STF from Kanpur Dehat area.

The arrested men included another Bhind resident Manish Yadav, who is the alleged link between Dubey's gang and his aides in UP and the duo arrested on Saturday. The seven men arrested from Kanpur Dehat area on March 1 had allegedly rendered shelter to Dubey and were accused of selling and buying weapons used by Dubey's gang members.

It is recalled that Dubey and hs gang had allegedly killed eight Uttar Pradesh police personnel on the intervening night of July 2 and 3 last year. He had subsequently gone underground, particularly after his key aides were killed in police encounter, before surfacing at the Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain on July 9.

He was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh Police and handed over to the UP Police the same day. Dubey was gunned down by the UP cops in an alleged encounter the next morning, after he tried to escape following the overturning of the vehicle in which he was being taken.

After Dubey's dramatic arrest in Ujjain and subsequent encounter in UP last year, two men were held by the Uttar Pradesh STF from Gwalior for giving shelter to key aides of Dubey, who were allegedly involved in the killing of the UP police personnel.