Wearing Confession Placard & Seeking Forgiveness, Accused in Kanpur Ambush Surrenders Before Police

An accused of the Kanpur ambush during which eight policemen were killed by henchmen of slain gangster Vikas Dubey surrendered before the Chaubepur police on Saturday in a dramatic manner, wearing a confession placard and seeking forgiveness for the crime. According to a senior officer, Umakant, alias Guddan, was accompanied by his wife, daughter and other family members at the time of his surrender.

He came to the police station wearing a confession placard and sought forgiveness from police, the officer said, adding that members of his family pleaded with them to save his life. He was taken into custody and will be produced before a court, he said. The UP Special Task Force (STF) and the Kanpur police had been on the lookout for Umakant since the ambush at Kanpur's Bikru village on July 3. They had raided several of his possible hideouts.

The Kanpur police in a press release on Saturday claimed that his surrender was the result of their alertness and frequent raids that built pressure on him. Police said Umakant was carrying a cash reward of Rs 50,000 and confessed to the crime.

During questioning, he confessed that he resorted to indiscriminate firing at the police party along with Vikas Dubey and his associates Amar Dubey, Atul Dubey, Prem Kumar, Prabhat Mishra, who were gunned down in separate police encounters, the release said. Umakant said he felt he was guilty for the brutal killing of policemen and decided to surrender after facing tremendous pressure and frequent raids at every possible hideout, the press release said.

Umakant is one of the nine accused who have either been arrested or surrendered till now. A hunt is on for the other six remaining named accused. Earlier, several aides of Vikas Dubey, including Daya Shankar Agnihotri, Shyamu Bajpai, Jahan Yadav, Shashikant, Monu and Shivam Dubey were arrested either by the UP STF or the Kanpur Police, while Gopal Saini surrendered before a special court in Kanpur Dehat about 10 days ago.

Those who are still at large are Chotu Shukla, Shiv Tewari, Vishnu Pal Yadav, Ramu Bajpai, Hiru Dubey and Bal Govind. As many as six prime accused– Vikas Dubey, Prabhat Mishra, Amar Dubey, Bauan Dubey, Prem Kumar Pandey and Atul Dubey– have been gunned down in separate encounters since July 3.