Uttar Pradesh Police Probe Slain Kanpur Cop's Letter Hinting Department's Connections With Vikas Dubey

Uttar Pradesh Police is investigating a letter reportedly written by the officer who led the raid on gangster Vikas Dubey on Friday and was killed along with seven cops at the hands of the gangster's men in Kanpur's Bikru village.

The top officer of the UP Police has asked for a thorough investigation of the letter and verify the information, that could prove to be one of the most important pieces of evidence to know the policemen involved in helping the gangster.

The letter is said to be written in March by circle officer Devendra Kumar Mishra to the then Kanpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Anant Deo.

Mishra, in the letter, had complained about people in the police department helping the gangster including tipping him off about the raid, especially Vinay Tiwari, the officer in charge of the Chaubepur police station, now suspended.

Mishra talked about Tiwari's 'close relations' with Dubey and had warned that the links would lead to serious circumstances. It also cited the FIR registered on March 13 against Dubey for extortion, and how Tiwari had got that section concerning extortion and threats removed, avoiding any further action into the matter.

The Indian Express got the copy of the March 13 FIR mentioned in the letter. The woman who registered the FIR has been identified as Roli Shukla of Bikru, who has accused six people, including Dubey, of barging into her house with weapons, beating her up and threatening to kill her family unless they paid Rs 2 lakh.

Apart from Dubey, three others named by her, Shivam Dubey, Amar Dubey and Gopal Saini, all of them mentioned in the FIR filed by police in Friday's incident.

"…an FIR was registered against interstate strongman Vikas Dubey and other co-accused under sections 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC…I had even directed Chaubepur police station in-charge (Vinay Tiwari) to take strict action against such criminals and to maintain peace, as the common citizen does not have the courage to complain against him. I had informed you too about the said incident… As there was no action on the case so far, the next day I checked the General Diary and found that Investigating Officer (IO) Sub-Inspector Azhar Irshad (has) removed the section 386 IPC and mentioned that the incident was just of old enmity. It has also been mentioned that the senior officials have been informed about this. When I questioned the IO, he said that he removed the section and made the changes in the direction of the police station in-charge," the letter was quoted by the media.

SSP Deo, to whom the letter was addressed, on Sunday, admitted that he did receive a few complaints from DySP Mishra regarding Tiwari in general, but said that such kind of differences was common between senior and junior officers.

Mishra led a team of 50 policemen from three police stations for the raid on the Dubey, who has been charged with almost 60 cases including murder, kidnapping, extortion and rioting.

As soon as the police approached the Bikru village on Friday, they were fired upon from the rooftops, as the gangster was allegedly alerted about the raid by the police. He remains on the run more than 84 hours since the ambush.

As of now, three policemen have been suspended on suspicion of links with the criminal, including Sub-Inspectors Kunwar Pal Singh and Krishna Kumar Verma, and Constable Rajeev.

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