Kanpur (UP), Sep 18 (IANS): Bikru village head Anjali Dubey and her Bheeti counterpart Vishnupal Singh have been removed from their posts following orders from Kanpur District Magistrate Alok Tewari, an officer said on Friday.

Both had allegedly not been discharging their official duties after the killing of eight police personnel by gangster Vikas Dubey and his men in Bikru on July 3.

While Anjali was a sister-in-law of Vikas Dubey, Vishnupal is one of the accused in the killing of the policemen in Bikru. He was on the run after the massacre, but surrendered before an anti-dacoity court in Maati in Kanpur Dehat district on August 19.

District Panchayati Raj Officer Kamal Kishore said: "The two neither contacted the Panchayati Raj Department nor replied to our notices issued soon after the Bikru incident. They have not carried out any developmental work or projects in both villages situated in Chaubeypur block. Therefore, they were removed on the instructions of the DM."

"On District Magistrate's orders, panchayat member Ram Kumar has been appointed Bikru village head, and panchayat member Radhey Shyam as the headman of Bheeti."

Both have been directed to continue with developmental projects in their respective villages.

Anjali Dubey is the wife of Deep Prakash Dubey, a brother of slain gangster Vikas Dubey. Deep has been absconding since July 3, with police announcing a reward of Rs 20,000 on him.

Deep and his wife Anjali, according to police sources, were aware of Vikas's illegal activities and were partners in crime.

Deep has several cases of forgery registered against him at the Krishna Nagar police station in Lucknow.