“Not as happy about surviving, as I am sad about losing my brothers,” says Ajay Kashyap as he recalls the shoot-out near history-sheeter Vikas Dubey’s residence in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur.
Shot on his left arm, Kashyap, a policeman and eyewitness who is currently recuperating at home in Bulandshahr, spoke about what unfolded on the intervening night of 2 and 3 July.
Eight police officers, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police, were killed when they went to nab history-sheeter Vikas Dubey – involved in 60 cases – in the early hours of 3 July in UP’s Kanpur. Dubey’s men had opened fire indiscriminately at the police when they were about to enter his residence.
‘We Had Never Even Seen Vikas Dubey’s Home’
“This is regarding the night of 2 July. Me and Jitendra Pal, who died in the encounter and hailed from Mathura, were on duty. Around 12 at night we were told that we had to go to another area. Two cars went from our police station, with ten people, in two cars.”
By 12:30 post midnight, Ajay Kashyap was on his way to this village.
“Then all the three cars came together and were parked outside Bikaru village. Before this, we had never stepped into that village, and did not know anything about the area. We did not know which lane would lead where,” he said.
Recalling their walk right after they got off the car, Kashyap says, “As soon as we got off the car, we started walking. We were not briefed about anything, like we generally are regarding where we were going or what we are too do. We had never even seen Vikas Dubey’s home. There were no lights in the village, nor were any lights lit in anyone’s home in the village. There was complete darkness.”
‘Someone Flashed a Torch at Vikas Dubey’s Home’
“When we were near his house, we saw a JCB standing around 30-35 meters away from it. Only one person was able to cross it at a time,” Kashyap recalls.
“After crossing the JCB, someone from our staff lit the torch towards the terrace of Vikas Dubey. We saw one man over there. After seeing that one man, everyone said we should move ahead. Some went from the right side and the others on the left. Our SHO, Pratap Singh, went from the left side. He called for Ajay – there were two Ajays in the team, Ajay Kashyap, which is me, and another Ajay Sengar. Both of us went towards the home from the left side.”
This is when the firing started.
‘We Were Shot Within 30 Seconds of Firing’
“While we walked adjacent to the left side of the house, they opened fire out of the blue. The firing was heavy and indiscriminate. At the least 20 to 22 rounds were fired at once in the first go. We were shot within the first thirty seconds of the firing,” he said.
Ajay was hit on his left hand and injured on his legs, the SHO was shot on one of his hands and legs, and Ajay Sengar was shot twice in the stomach and fell right there, Kashyap says.
“The three of us tried to take cover behind a wall. But the wall was such that we were clearly visible in the line of fire from Vikas Dubey’s home. Then our SHO, who did not know till now that he was fired at, started firing back to cover us. We did not know what to do. We did not know if there was any lane we could use or not,” Kashyap explained.
First the SHO went ahead, saw the lane ahead and called us to a trolley. From there we went ahead to our car, and thereafter the police station.
The bounty on Dubey’s head was increased to Rs 2.5 lakh, the office of Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police said on 6 July, according to news agency ANI. In the same case, three policemen, which include two sub-inspectors and a constable, have been suspended on grounds of laxity.
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