Indian gang leader Vikas Dubey shot dead while in police custody
- He was being driven in a police convoy but when a vehicle overturned he tried to steal an officer’s revolver and escape, police spokesman said
- Dubey was killed so he would not ‘reveal the names of people who provided patronage and protection to him’, one opposition Congress party leader said
The top suspect in the ambush killings of eight police officers last week and dozens of other crimes was fatally shot in police custody on Friday while allegedly trying to flee, officials said.
Vikas Dubey snatched a revolver from officers after their vehicle overturned on a highway near the northern Indian city of Kanpur and tried to flee, said police officer Mohit Aggarwal. He said Dubey died in an exchange of gunfire.
Dubey, in his 40s, had given himself up in the central town of Ujjain on Thursday after a weeklong search. He was being driven in a police convoy to Kanpur where the eight police officers were killed.
He is believed to have links with state politicians and the police. Two police officers were arrested this week for allegedly tipping him off about a police raid on his home last Friday.
Police in the past four days killed six of Dubey’s alleged accomplices in helping him evade arrest, said Avneesh Awasthi, a state government spokesman.
Amarnath Aggarwal, an opposition Congress party leader, accused police of planning the killing of Dubey.
“It was committed with the motive that Dubey did not reveal the names of people who provided patronage and protection to him,” he said.