Lalu has confessed that he was in Vikas Dubey’s gang which had attacked the police team. (File)
Lucknow/Kanpur:
An aide of the dead gangster Vikas Dubey has been arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh Police from Chitrakoot district, days after the dramatic surrender of another associate and accused of the Kanpur ambush in which eight policemen were killed, officials said on Tuesday.
Bal Govind Dubey alias Lalu, a cousin of Vikas Dubey, carried a reward of Rs 50,000 on information leading to his arrest. He was a key accused in the ambush at Bikru village, an STF spokesman said.
Lalu is a resident of Bikru in Chaubepur police station of Kanpur, the spokesman said, adding he was arrested from Parikrama turn under Karvi police station area of Chitrakoot on Monday.
There were inputs that Lalu was living in disguise, the spokesman said.
During interrogation he has confessed that he was in Vikas Dubey’s gang which had attacked the police team leading to the killing of eight personnel last month, the spokesman added.
Additional Superintendent of Police (STF) Vishal Vikram Singh said Lalu initially tried to mislead the police, but during intensive interrogation he confessed to his involvement in the ambush.
Lalu told the investigators that his son-in-law Vineet Shukla, a resident of village Mohini Nivada, had a land dispute with Rahul Tiwari, a resident of Jadepur Ghassa who had lodged a complaint against Vikas Dubey and his men on July 2.
The ambush took place during a raid based on the complaint. His arrest comes days after the dramatic surrender of Umakant, alias Guddan.
Umakant came to the Chaubepur police station on August 8 wearing a confession placard and sought forgiveness from police, an officer said, adding that members of his family pleaded with them to save his life.
Bal Govind, alias Lalu, is one of the 10 accused who have either been arrested or surrendered till now. A hunt is on for the other five remaining named accused.
Earlier, several aides of Vikas Dubey, including Daya Shankar Agnihotri, Shyamu Bajpai, Jahan Yadav, Shashikant, Monu and Shivam Dubey were arrested either by the UP STF or the Kanpur Police, while Gopal Saini surrendered before a special court in Kanpur Dehat about 10 days ago.
Those who are still at large are Chotu Shukla, Shiv Tewari, Vishnu Pal Yadav, Ramu Bajpai, Hiru Dubey and Bal Govind.
As many as six prime accused — Vikas Dubey, Prabhat Mishra, Amar Dubey, Bauan Dubey, Prem Kumar Pandey and Atul Dubey — have been gunned down in separate encounters since July 3.
