Samajwadi Party demands UP govt probe role of local cops in Kanpur shootout case

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], June 5 (ANI): Samajwadi Party (SP) on Sunday urged the Uttar Pradesh government and the State police to probe the role of the local police station, from where somebody had allegedly tipped off gangster Vikas Dubey, the main accused in the killing of eight police officials, in the Kanpur shootout case.
"In the Kanpur shootout case, call detail record (CDR) by the police has revealed that main accused Vikas Dubey and SHO Vinay Tiwari had been in touch. SP demands that via this CDR it should be found that if a person in power was giving protection to Vikas Dubey. The government and the police must investigate this immediately," the Samajwadi Party posted on its Twitter handle.
On Friday, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav had tweeted in Hindi about the Uttar Pradesh government was engaged in a drama of showing minor encounters in a hurried manner instead of arresting the main criminal.
Daya Shankar Agnihotri, an alleged accomplice of Dubey had told police on Sunday that the latter was received a phone call from the local police station before the police came to arrest him, following which the gangster called his other accomplices and they fired bullets on the police personnel, resulting in the death of eight police officers, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police.
Earlier today, the police arrested Agnihotri in Kalyanpur.
"He (Vikas Dubey) received a phone call from the police station before the police came to arrest him. Following this, he called around 25-30 people. He fired bullets on police personnel," said Agnihotri.
"I was locked inside the house at the time of encounter, therefore, saw nothing," he added.
On Saturday the administration had razed the house of Dubey in Bikru village, the site of the June 10 encounter.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Police have increased the prize money from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh to be given to anybody providing any information regarding the whereabouts of Dubey.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also announced Rs 1 crore each ex-gratia for the families of those killed in the encounter. (ANI)