On July 2, an Uttar Pradesh police team attempting to arrest gangster Vikas Dubey found themselves in an ambush. A shootout ensued. By the...
On July 2, an Uttar Pradesh police team attempting to arrest gangster Vikas Dubey found themselves in an ambush. A shootout ensued. By the end, a deputy superintendent of police, three sub-inspectors and four constables lay dead – but Dubey escaped. He was arrested only a week later, on Thursday morning.
How was Dubey able to plan such a deadly attack on the police? According to the Uttar Pradesh police, the gangster may have been tipped off about the raid by sympathisers in the Kanpur police.
This isn’t the first time Dubey has pulled off a brazen crime. In 2001, he shot dead a state minister named Santosh Shukla inside a police station. His trial turned out to be a farce. Every witness – 25 policemen among them – turning hostile, leading to Dubey being acquitted.
Both incidents reveal the close links between crime, politics and the police in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Dubey’s incredible clout comes from being close to power. The gangster controlled a significant number of Brahmin-dominated villages in the Kanpur rural area. This meant that he could influence elections – ranging from panchayat polls to parliamentary ones. This may have contributed to his strong control over the local police.
None of this is new for Uttar Pradesh. While politics...
