A dramatic ‘encounter’ which police officers had predicted beforehand  

Amitabh Thakur, an IPS officer, tweeted on Thursday night that Vikas Dubey may probably try to escape from police custody and end up being shot dead.

This may well be the end of the Vikas Dubey chapter.

This tweet proved prophetic as gangster Vikas Dubey was shot dead near Kanpur when he allegedly tried to escape. The end was as dramatic as Dubey's surrender in a temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. The surrender had left many bloody noses in UP police and they were looking at an opportune time to settle the score.

“No doubt it is a big embarrassment for UP Police that Dubey managed to reach Ujjain and stage-managed his surrender. But it would be a bigger embarrassment if Dubey reaches Kanpur alive. The police should eliminate him once he enters the UP border,” a senior IPS officer (not Thakur) told this reporter on Thursday night.

Friday morning saved the police from that `big embarrassment’.

Many questions now would be raised about the killing. According to police, the incident occurred at Bhauti police station on the National Highway - 2 when Vikas was being brought by STF from Ujjjain. The spot of the encounter was 25 kilometres from the Kanpur toll Plaza. “Vikas tried to escape after snatching firearms from security personnel and police opened fire. He was critically injured and doctors in the hospital declared him brought dead,” police said.

A service pistol was found lying at the spot which was allegedly snatched from the police and was fired by the criminal.

The questions raised are whether a man who has a steel rod in his leg could have ‘run’ and two, why would a person who surrendered in a temple complex and got his pictures clicked snatch a firearm and try to escape from the trigger-happy police of Uttar Pradesh.

There are many questions that are unanswered in this encounter. Was the police trying to save political leaders who helped Dubey escape from Bikaru village in Kanpur on July 3 when he killed eight policemen and helped him for seven days before he surrendered in the temple?

The questions remained as to how Dubey managed to flee from Kanpur and went to Faridabad and then travel over 1500 km crossing Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and reached Mahakal Temple in Ujjain in a car bearing a Lucknow registration number.

It goes without saying that Dubey was enjoying political patronage. He had connections in all the parties like BJP, BSP and SP. It was said that with the change in government, Dubey used to simply change the party flag on his car’s mast. Political parties were in awe of him because his words were a command and people used to follow his directives in letter and in spirit.

The political circles are agog with expectations that this encounter will have apolitical fallout. The Brahmins, who comprise almost 11 percent of the vote share in UP, are critical of the Yogi government because of his Thakurvad and now after Dubey’s killing, questions are raised whether this government is anti-Brahmin.

A BJP Brahmin lawmaker said: “At this point of time Maharaj ji (as Yogi is known) can bask in glory but he will have to face the ire of Brahmins in future.”