By Vivek Tripathi

Lucknow, Jul 3 (IANS): Underworld don Vikas Dubey, who was responsible for the murder of eight policemen in Kanpur, has 60 criminal cases registered against him. He was also active in politics using 'honour' to polarise voters in favour of his men.

Vikas is the prime accused in the 2001 murder of Minister of State Santosh Shukla. Apart from this, some high-profile murder cases in which Vikas is an accused include the murder of Siddheshwar Pandey, assistant manager of Tarachand Inter College located in Shivli police station area of Kanpur in 2000 and the killing of Rambabu Yadav in the same year. Vikas is accused of hatching the conspiracy to murder Yadav even while he was in jail. Along with this, Vikas' name emerged as an accused in the 2004 cable businessman Dinesh Dubey murder case. In 2018, Vikas carried out a deadly attack on his own cousin Anurag. Here again, he hatched the conspiracy from inside the jail. Four people including Vikas were held responsible for the murder by the deceased's wife.

Vikas formed his own gang as a youth and started his criminal career with snatchings, robberies and murders.

He became notorious and wanted in Kanpur in almost no time. He was also known for determining the victory and defeat of candidates in elections with terror.

Manoj Shukla, the brother of Santosh Shukla and a Bharatiya Janata Party leader, told IANS that "Vikas is a very vicious criminal. He has been persistently escaping due to political patronage. He murdered our brother Santosh Shukla inside the police station. There were around 25 witnesses to the crime most of them were policemen, but he got acquitted in the case due to political connections".

Manoj is former BJP district vice president of Kanpur rural.

Manoj said that Vikas had joined the Bahujan Samaj Party to protect himself in 1995-96. After that he became a member of a zila panchayat. Thereafter, his wife contested panchayat polls with Samajwadi Party support.

"In 20 years, Vikas always got acquitted in every case due to his political connections," Manoj said with regret.

He said: "When my brother was murdered even that time Vikas had the support of some leaders of our own party, it is not right to take their names. Vikas was acquitted in this case in 2005. The police did not give a statement which deprived us of justice."

"Now, he has initiated a war against the administration. Action will definitely be taken because he has started a fight against the administration and the government. When he killed my brother, there were 45 cases registered against him. Illegal land acquisition was his profession. He worked for many political leaders during panchayat and civic polls which strengthened his relations with many big parties," said Manoj.

Senior journalist Pranshu Mishra explained that after killing Santosh Shukla in the police station, Vikas became a big name in the criminal world. He had support from almost every political party that's why no one could even touch him for 20 years. He consider himself a 'Don' and some youths consider him their role model.

Director General of Police Hitesh Chandra Awasthi said that Vikas is a vicious criminal. He has 60 criminal cases registered against him including attempt to murder.