Kanpur, Aug 9 (IANS): In a dramatic incident, one of the accused in the Bikru massacre where eight policemen had been killed on July 3, appeared at the Chaubeypur police station on Saturday, wearing a placard around his neck.
On the placard, the accused Umakant Shukla had confessed to his involvement in the Bikru massacre and sought forgiveness for the crime.
Members of his family pleaded with the police to save his life. He was taken into custody by the Chaubeypur police.
The UP Special Task Force (STF) and the Kanpur police had been on the lookout for Umakant since the ambush at Bikru village on July 3. They had raided several of his possible hideouts.
The Kanpur police, in a press release on Saturday night, 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.
He said that Vikas Dubey, the main accused in the massacre who was killed in a police encounter n July 10, was a 'demon' and a 'terror'.
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.