Several Opposition leaders on Friday questioned the manner in which Uttar Pradesh gangster Vikas Dubey was killed in an encounter and demanded a judicial probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge to find out if he was killed to protect the people who patronised him.
Former Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati as well as Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra stressed that such an inquiry was necessary to expose the criminal-politician nexus in the State.
Ms Mayawati said in a tweet in Hindi, “There should be an unbiased probe under the supervision of the Supreme Court into the killing of policemen in Kanpur and the encounter of main accused Vikas Dubey while he was trying to flee when the police vehicle overturned”.
“A high-level probe is necessary for ensuring justice to eight policemen killed in Kanpur and to identify the nexus between police and criminal political elements. By such steps, the State can become crime free,” she stated.
Samajwadi Party President and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav made a direct attack on the State government through a cryptic tweet. “Actually, the car did not overturn but the government has been saved from being overturned”, he tweeted in Hindi.
Ms Vadra alleged that the BJP has transformed the State into a ‘apraadh pradesh’ (crime State) that is number one in crimes against women, children, Dalits, possession of illegal weapons and murders.
“Everyone knows that such protection comes from political sources, such protection comes from those in power... After his encounter, how do we assure the family members of 8 martyred policemen that we are delivering justice and the sacrifices of their loved ones didn’t go in vain.The Congress party demands a judicial probe to look into the entire the Kanpur ambush killing incident,” she said in video message.
Several other State leaders also slammed the government and the police for ‘subverting’ the judicial process.
Former Lok Sabha member and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Chaudhruy tweeted, “After Vikas Dubey’s encounter, all the judges in the country should resign. Under BJP’s Thok Do [Shoot] rule, there is no need of any court”.
Echoing this view, BSP MP Danish Ali tweeted, “While murdering gangster, terrorist VikasDubey in FakeEncounter UP Police killed the whole judicial system. If @myogiadityanath does not immediately suspend the cops involved, it'll establish they had his support in the lawless’Thok Do’Raj in Uttar Pradesh. Nobody is above law”.
Congress’s poser
At the Congress’s official briefing, its chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala picked several loopholes in the police’s theory.
“If he had to run away, why did he go and pronounce himself, identify himself and surrender himself in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh? Why were the media persons travelling with the Special Task Force motorcade stopped and not permitted to go forward just before the encounter? If the criminal was running away, why was he not shot in the back instead of being shot in his chest” asked Mr. Surjewala.
“Would the arrest of Vikas Dubey and consequent statement before magistrate have spilled the beans of a deep rooted nexus between organised crime and officers and politicians in power in UP?” he added.
Tweeting a news report that raised questions about the encounter, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said, “Dead men tell no tales#Vikas Dubey”.
