Chaubeypur Station House Officer (SHO) Vinay Tewari had directly called the lineman and instructed him to cut off the power supply to Kanpur’s Bikhru village on the intervening night of Thursday-Friday. A team of policemen was ambushed during a raid to nab gangster Vikas Dubey resulting in the deaths of 8 policemen and another 7 suffering injuries.

Kanpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dinesh Kumar has now confirmed that it was indeed SHO Vinay Tewari who had directed the lineman to terminate power supply in the village at the time of the encounter. Chaubeypur SHO Tewari is being considered as the mole who informed Dubey about the raid beforehand.

However, SSP Kumar’s statement that SHO Tewari asked for the power to be cut off to shield the police team from relentless firing by Dubey’s goons can exonerate the policeman under suspicion for betraying the force.

Dubey’s men were firing directly at the police team because they had the advantage of light which is why the Chaubeypur SHO called up the lineman and instructed him to cut off the power supply to the village so that the backup police team would not fall prey to gunfire, SSP Dinesh Kumar added.

Kumar’s version of events bears similarity to that of Kaushalendra Pratap Singh, SHO of Bithoor police station who was injured during the ambush. On Sunday, Singh who is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Kanpur said that gangster Vikas Dubey had already briefed his team of goons.

“They had made arrangements in such a way that the focus of the light was on us, and not on them. We could not see them,” an ailing Kaushalendra Pratap Singh revealed.

Uttar Pradesh Police has launched a manhunt for Vikas Dubey, the gangster accused in over 60 cases, including 11 of murder. New cases were also filed against him in Lucknow on Sunday in connection with the ambush that claimed the lives of eight police personnel.