Indian gangster accused of killing policemen arrested from temple

A gangster accused of killing eight police officers in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh was arrested from a temple complex on Thursday after a nearly weeklong chase across different states.

Vikas Dubey was caught by the police in the Mahakal temple in Ujjain city located in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh hours after three of his aides were killed by the police.

Footage on television channels showed Dubey, in a mask, being taken by police teams from the temple.

“Vikas Dubey has been a cruel killer from his younger days and was involved in the heinous killings of policemen. He has been arrested from the Mahakal temple,” Narottam Mishra, home minister of Madhya Pradesh, said.

However, there was confusion over whether Dubey was arrested or he had surrendered. Some politicians alleged that Dubey had surrendered to avoid being killed by the police in a confrontation.

Eight police officers were shot dead in Uttar Pradesh on Friday in an ambush set up by the gangster who had been allegedly alerted about a raid by local policemen.

Dubey escaped following the ambush, prompting a manhunt.

He has a long criminal history, including the alleged murder of a politician and state minister in 2001, and was wanted in connection with at least 50 other criminal cases.

He was seen at a guesthouse in a New Delhi suburb on Wednesday after which police intensified their search and tracked him to Ujjain, some 800 kilometres (500 miles) away.

Dubey was associated with political leaders, showing the nexus between politicians and criminals in Uttar Pradesh, local media reported.

Uttar Pradesh, India’s politically most significant state that sends the highest number of MPs to the Indian parliament, is also among its poorest and most lawless. The state of 230 million reports a large number of crimes, including robberies, kidnappings and crimes against women, according to the National Crime Record Bureau.