"In view of the allegations levelled against SO, he has been suspended and all the allegations are being thoroughly looked into," IG Kanpur Range Mohit Agarwal told reporters in Kanpur.
"If his involvement or that of any other personnel of the police is found in this incident, then they will be sacked from the department and also sent to jail," he said. As per reports, Tiwari was also interrogated by Special Task Force (STF) of UP Police over his relations with the gangster.
Apart from this, UP Police also razed the house of Vikas Dubey in Bithoor's Dikru village today. A cash reward of Rs 50,000 has also been announced for providing information about Dubey.
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Eight police personnel, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), were gunned down in a village near Kanpur city by the henchmen of a criminal who lost two of them in a firefight later. The raid was carried out at 1 am on the intervening night of July 2-3 in Bithoor area in Chaubepur.
The policemen who attained martyrdom are -- Deputy SP Devendra Mishra (54) who was posted as Circle Officer of Bilhaur, SHO Shivrajpur police station Mahesh Kumar Yadav (42), Sub-Inspector Anoop Kumar Singh (32), Sub-Inspector Nebu Lal (48), constables Jitendra Pal (26), Sultan Singh (34), Bablu Kumar (23) and Rahul Kumar (24).
Sources have informed that as many as several police teams have been deployed in the area so as not to let Cahubey flee the country. The border area of Lakhimpur Kheri that lead towards Nepal has also been sealed.
Apart from 8 Police personnel, seven others, including a civilian, were injured in the attack from a rooftop on a police team after it entered Bikru village past Thursday midnight to arrest Dubey, who has faced 60 criminal cases.
ALSO READ | UP: 8 Cops Killed In Kanpur In A Raid At Gangster Vikas Dubey's House; CM Yogi Directs To Seal Borders
The attackers fled, snatching weapons from the dead and the wounded policemen.
"Most of the villagers have said that he (Dubey) had grabbed people's land using muscle power and built his house. He used to extort money from people. It was a hub of crime. There was anger among the local people and there was a feeling of vengeance among them," Agarwal said while speaking to reporters today.
The Kanpur Range IG went on to say that family members of the criminal could have been attacked by the local people but the situation did not go out of control due to police presence.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath rushed to Kanpur on Friday to meet the family members of the slain policemen and announced financial assistance of Rs One crore each to the bereaved families.
Promising that those behind the heinous crime will not be let off, the chief minister said a government job would be given to a member of each of the bereaved families, besides extraordinary pension.