UP Forms SIT to Probe Vikas Dubey Case, Finds Lapse in Past Probes

UP gangster Vikas Dubey.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday, 11 July ordered that a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Additional Chief Secretary Sanjay Bhoosreddy, will conduct the investigation in the Kanpur encounter case of Vikas Dubey.

The state government has said that it expects for a report to be submitted in the matter by 31 July.

The SIT is expected to probe the adequacy of the actions taken against Dubey and his accomplices’ crimes, the credibility of past investigations against Dubey and his criminal history, how was Dubey able to walk free despite such a massive criminal history, probing lapses on the day of the shootout of eight policemen on 3 July, how was he able to procure licences for the weapons he possessed and so on.

The formation of the SIT comes amid constant attacks by the Opposition over Dubey’s encounter and allegations of a plot to shield his accomplices within the Yogi Adityanath administration.

Eight UP policemen were killed in a shoot-out in Kanpur on 3 July, as they went to nab Dubey.

Dubey, who was arrested from Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain on Thursday, after a six-day-long search, was killed in an encounter while he was allegedly trying to flee after one of the vehicles that was part of the convoy of the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF), that was bringing back Dubey from Ujjain to Kanpur, overturned. Four policemen were reportedly injured in the accident.