New Delhi, July 17 The Uttar Pradesh Police have informed the Supreme Court that gangster Vikas Dubey did not surrender after the Ujjain police verified his identity and took him into custody. Later, this information was shared with the UP police.
Clarifying on the change of vehicles in the incident, the UP police said Dubey was taken in the STF vehicle from Ujjain to Guna (253 kms). "From Guna, he was handed over to the investigating officer Ramakant Pachuri who took him in his SUV.... accused was sitting between constable Pradeep Kumara and Pachuri in the middle seat when the accident took place. Accused Dubey was being transferred from vehicle to vehicle to ensure security and alertness", said the UP police affidavit in the apex court, answering more than dozen questions associated with the alleged encounter of Dubey.
How did police accurately fire four bullets? The police said, "This claim is incorrect. Actually six bullets were fired by police. Only three hit the accused. It was a close and face to face exchange of fire in self-defence by police."
Why was he not handcuffed? The UP police replied, "There were 15 policemen and 3 vehicles to escort the accused directly to the court at Kanpur. He had to be produced at Kanpur within 24 hours before the court which was expiring at 10 am on July 10."
Why was the media stopped 2 kms away? The UP police said no media was stopped by it. Media vehicles continuously followed the police vehicle from Ujjain and did a live telecast. The police claimed that there was a traffic jam at the checkpoints, and the vehicles of two media houses had immediately reached the accident site.
Clarifying gunshots were heard by locals but there were no witnesses to the accident, the police said "no locals came to the site claiming they had heard gunshots. Near the accident site there was no habitation/houses. Due to heavy rains, there was no pedestrian movement also. Video of heavy rains is recorded."
Vikas Dubey had an iron rod implant in his leg and was spotted limping in Ujjain, then how could he escape by running? The police responded, "Accused was perfectly mobile. He had run for more than 3 km on July 2-3 after brutally killing 8 policemen. The video recording at Mahakaal Ujjain shows that accused was walking/moving very well. His fast and covert travel across several states in a couple of days is a clear testimony of his perfect mobility."
What secrets he had with him that could have exposed the nexus between him and the police/politic? The police said, "The government of Uttar Pradesh has constituted a judicial inquiry commission to inter alia enquire into the alleged collusion of accused and his associates with police and other departments."
The police also informed the apex court that there was no decision at any stage to bring back Dubey on a chartered plane, as a team of STF had left from Lucknow by road to join the existing raiding teams at Guna, and one STF team was already stationed at Gwalior for intelligence collection and arrest.
( With inputs from IANS )