2 Cops Arrested for Tipping off Gangster Vikas Dubey in Connection with Kanpur Ambush

Two Uttar Pradesh Police personnel were arrested on Wednesday in connection with last week's Kanpur ambush in which eight policemen were killed.

Those arrested were identified as former Station House Officer of Chaubepur Vinay Tiwari and Beat In-charge KK Sharma.

"They were present during the Kanpur encounter but fled the site of incident during the operation," said Kanpur Range Inspector General Mohit Agarwal.

The two were being questioned for the past two days for their alleged links to gangster Vikas Dubey whose accomplices had opened fire and ambushed a team of police officers last week.

When the police team reached Dubey's house in Bikru village, the gangster and his accomplices opened fire and eight police were killed on the spot.

Tiwari and Sharma were suspended on Sunday and have now been arrested, said SSP Kanpur Dinesh Prabhu.

"As per evidence, it has been found that police personnel Vinay Tiwari and KK Sharma had informed Vikas Dubey about the raid beforehand. So, he was on alert and planned to attack police, which resulted in the death of eight policemen," said Prabhu.

Dubey's aides killed in ambush

Earlier on Wednesday, the UP Special Task Force (STF) killed an aide of gangster Dubey in Hamirpur and arrested six others in separate encounters in Kanpur and Faridabad for their alleged role in last week's ambush. Two policemen were injured in the Hamirpur encounter.

"Amar Dubey, who carried a reward of Rs 50,000, was killed in an encounter in Maudaha village of Hamirpur district," said UP Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar, adding an unlicensed semi-automatic pistol of .32 bore was seized from the encounter site in Hamirpur.

"Acting on a tip-off, a team of the STF and local police surrounded Amar. He was injured in the firing and he died during treatment in a hospital," Hamirpur Superintendent of Police Shlok Kumar said.

Two policemen, including an inspector from Maudaha and an STF constable, were injured in the encounter, he added.

Amar Dubey is the third member of Vikas Dubey's gang who was killed in an encounter with the police.