Bikru : An eerie silence sits heavy on the Bikru village, hours after the news of the arrest of gangster Vikas Dubey in Ujjain and the death of his accomplice Prabhat Mishra in Kanpur earlier on Thursday, seeps in.
A group of policemen sit around the demolished house of Vikas Dubey and Prabhat Mishra’s house, a short distance away, bears a barren look. His grandmother sits on a parapet and is inconsolable.
As media persons troop in, villagers begin shutting their doors.
Supporters of Dubey — and there are many of them in Bikru village — refuse to comment on his arrest. Some claim that they are unaware of the development while others just shy away.
Those who are opposed to the Dubey camp are too frightened to speak.
The Chaubeypur police station that has been at the center of controversy over the role of police in the encounter that led to the death of eight policemen on July 3, also wears a deserted look.
The constables sitting idly around also refuse to comment. The entire Chaubeypur police station was sent to lines on Tuesday after a number of police personnel were found to be in cahoots with the gangster. Former Chaubeypur station officer Vinay Tiwari and inspector K.K. Sharma were first suspended and then arrested on Wednesday.
When prodded, one of the newly posted constables said, “I do not know the sequence of events. I have been posted here on Wednesday.”
Meanwhile, Kamlakant Mishra, brother of slain circle officer Devendra Mishra, alleged that the arrest of Vikas Dubey was a planned strategy to save the gangster.
“How could he cover a distance of about 800 kilometers that takes 12 hours without any support to reach the Mahakaal temple? It is now clear that there are some more people involved in the conspiracy that led to the encounter in which eight policemen were killed.
“It is on the advice of these people that Dubey has surrendered. He has been saved from the clutches of death,” he said.
Sarla Dubey, the mother of Vikas, told reporters that she learned about the arrest of her son from TV channels.
“He used to go every year to visit the Mahakaal temple and offer prayers. It is because of this that he has been saved today,” she said.
Asked what she wanted for her son now, Sarla said, “It is up to the government to decide the punishment. Who am I to say anything?”