Uttar Pradesh gangster 'arrested' from MP temple after week-long chase

Uttar Pradesh gangster Vikas Dubey — who was on the run after killing eight policemen in an ambush in Kanpur — was nabbed from a temple in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday after a five-day chase across four states.

The dramatic circumstances under which he was caught have raised questions whether it was an arrest or a surrender.

The Madhya Pradesh police claimed that Dubey was apprehended by a security guard at the famous Mahakal Temple and handed over to cops. A senior UP police officer said they were gathering information from their MP counterparts and they "cannot say anything at this moment".

But sources here said that Dubey decided to surrender as he feared he could be gunned down by cops in a staged encounter. The fact that he kept shouting "Main hoon Vikas Dubey Kanpur wala (I am Vikas Dubey from Kanpur)" while being taken into custody buttressed the contention that he wanted to identify himself before everyone, especially the local media.

Dubey's fears were not unfounded. After he and his men killed eight cops last week, the UP police have shot dead five of his aides in "encounters" in different parts of the state.

The gangster, who carried a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head, gave a slip to the UP police and travelled around 1,300 kilometres to reach Ujjain, traversing three states — Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan. He was earlier spotted in Faridabad in Haryana but escaped just before the cops reached his hideout.

"The Uttar Pradesh police failed to arrest him and he managed to surrender," UP IPS officer Amitabh Thakur said.

The family members of slain circle officer Devendra Mishra expressed doubts over Dubey's arrest. "Someone wants to save him," said one of them.

Congress leaders alleged that the arrest was staged. Party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra demanded a CBI probe while Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav asked the UP government to come out with the details of the "arrest".