Kanpur, Jul 10 (IANS): Slain gangster Vikas Dubey took three bullets to his chest and one on his arm.

The bullet injuries on the chest proved fatal for the gangster who was slain in an encounter with the Special Task Force when he reportedly tried to flee. He was being brought back to Kanpur from Ujjain on a transit remand after he apparently surrendered following his surfacing in the Mahakaal temple of Madhya Pradesh, seven days since he and his aides ambushed and killed eight policemen in Bikru village.

Dr R.B. Kamal, Principal of the Lal Lajpat Rai hospital where Dubey was brought after being shot, said that the condition of the three injured police personnel, who were hit in the gun battle, were stable. He said that the bullets brushed by two of them.

Th doctor's statement makes it clear that Vikas Dubey was shot from the front and not while he was running away. If that had been so, the bullets would have hit him from the back.

Meanwhile Vikas Dubey's wife Richa, who was nabbed on Thursday along with their son, has been released by the Special Task Force. "They were not found to be involved in the Dubey's crime," said SSP Kanpur Dinesh Kumar.

ADG Prashant Kumar, while explaining the circumstances in which the gangster was killed on Friday morning, said, "After car overturned, Vikas Dubey tried to snatch police weapon and attempted to flee. There was retaliatory firing by the police in which he was injured. He was declared dead after being taken to hospital."