IT department and ED to probe illegally-acquired properties of key Dubey aide, says UP govt.

Bajpai is also accused of providing three luxury cars to Dubey and his men to escape to safety after the shootout.

Kanpur: Police personnel outside the residence of Jai Bajpai, a close aide of Vikas Dubey, who is believed to have taken care of all his financial transactions, in Kanpur, Tuesday, July 7, 2020. STF carried out a search operation at his house today. (PTI Photo)(PTI07-07-2020_000196A)

The Uttar Pradesh government late on Monday said that it had launched a formal probe into the “illegally acquired” properties of Jaikant Bajpai, an aide of slain Vikas Dubey who is accused of providing him logistical help during the Bikru incident in which eight policemen were shot dead earlier this month .

The government said it had “requested” Chief Commissioner of Income Tax Department, Lucknow, and Joint Director of the Enforcement Directorate, Lucknow to investigate Bajpai's properties.

A spokesperson for the UP Home department, which falls under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, said a report by the SSP Kanpur had found that it was “prima facie” true that Bajpai had acquired properties illegally and recommended a probe by the IT and ED.

Bajpai who allegedly handled Dubey's finances was recently arrested on charges of providing financial and logistical help to the history-sheeter in executing the ambush of policemen in Bikru village and escaping from there.

On July 1, Dubey made a phone call to Bajpai, who on the next day reached Bikru with his associate Prashant Shukla, who is also under arrest, and provided Dubey with ₹2 lakh in cash and a revolver with 25 cartridges, police had claimed.

Bajpai is also accused of providing three luxury cars to Dubey and his men to escape to safety after the shootout. However, on July 4 the police found the three cars abandoned in Kakadeo area of Kanpur.

Bajpai and Shukla were booked on several charges including murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy and Section 29 and 30 of the Arms Act. Bajpai's sudden financial rise in the last few years — from a small printing press to a flashy lifestyle, land estate and SUVs, along with his photographs with politicians, police officers and bureaucrats that surfaced after July 3-- made him the most talked-about associate of Dubey.

Last week, Bajpai was also booked for using a 'forged' secretariat pass bearing the word “Vidhayak” (Legislator) on the windscreen of one of the SUVs recovered from him.