The Uttar Pradesh Police have arrested three people from Bikru village in Kanpur, late on Monday night, for allegedly helping gangster Vikas Dubey and his men in spotting the policemen who were hiding near her house when the shootout took place on Friday.

Eight Uttar Pradesh Police personnel were shot dead and at least seven others got seriously injured including a civilian when they went to arrest local criminal Vikas Dubey and his gang. They were sprayed with bullets.

Police is also probing a letter reportedly written by Devendra Kumar Mishra, the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), who led the raid on  Dubey and was killed, to the then Kanpur police chief Anant Deo Tiwari. The current Kanpur police chief has asked for a thorough inquiry into the letter, reported NDTV.

UP Police had said on Monday said that they are probing into the allegations made in a purported letter that DSP Devendra Mishra wrote weeks before his death, alleging links between the now suspended Chaubeypur station officer and gangster Vikas Dubey.

The letter is viral on social media, and the city police chief claimed on Monday night that it had not been found in police records but a search was on for it. The letter if found and verified, could be incriminating evidence in allegations that cops have been helping Dubey. The letter alleges that station officer Vinay Tiwari had got a serious charge against Dubey dropped.

Gangster Dubey was allegedly was informed about the raid beforehand. It was leaked to the criminal by some ‘insider’and he is still at large.

Meanwhile, Kshama Dubey who got arrested, is the wife of Vikas Dubey’s nephew, Sanjay Dubey, and she did not open the doors of the house when one of the cops knocked looking for a hideout to save his life during the shootout.

SSP Kanpur Dinesh Kumar Prabhu said, “Instead, Kshama informed Vikas and his aides about the location of the policemen. Armed with semi-automatic weapons, Vikas’s aides reached her house through roofs and shot dead all the policemen, who were standing near the door of her house.”

The police have also arrested Rekha Agnihotri, wife of Dubey’s cook, Daya Shankar, who was earlier arrested following a brief encounter on Sunday.

Rekha, who also worked as a maid at Vikas’s house, helped the gang members to spot a group of other policemen, who had taken refuge behind a wall opposite Vikas’s house.

“When shooters opened fire at policemen, Rekha was cheering them and yelling that none of the policemen should return alive,” said the official.

Suresh Verma, the third person arrested on Monday night, was also applauding the shooters.

The SSP said, “We have arrested the three from their hideouts and booked them under Section 120B. They would be produced in the court and will be sent to jail later.”

According to police, the three were giving information to Dubey and his henchmen when the shootout occurred at Dubey’s  residence in Bikru village in Kanpur on July 3.

Police said that they were giving all information about the police personnel’s location to Dubey during the encounter.

According to police, the three of them were part of the gang that laid a trap for the police team which was raiding Bikru village.

The incident had led to national outrage even as Vikas Dubey remains out of reach of the police.

Meanwhile, yesterday three more policemen were suspended on the charge of dereliction of duty.

Kanpur Senior Superintendent of Police Dinesh Kumar P said that Sub-Inspector Kunwar Pal, Sub-Inspector Krishna Kumar Sharma, and Constable Rajeev have been suspended.

He said that as and when police is getting any information, it is conducting raids. Teams of all police stations are on alert to catch the culprits.

As per the report, the state borders have been sealed and alert issued on the India-Nepal border since Dubey’s last location was traced in Auraiya. The Uttar Pradesh police have  also alerted their counterparts in adjoining states since it is believed that the gangster could be in hiding anywhere there.

Authorities had on Saturday demolished the well-fortified house of the gangster.

Vikas Dubey has over 60 cases against him, including murder charges. His criminal journey began in 1990 with the case of murder. After this, a number of cases including murder, kidnapping, extortion and rioting were registered against the gangster.

A sensational murder case against Dubey is of Santosh Shukla, a Kanpur BJP leader in 2001.

It was reported that Vikas Dubey had chased Santosh Shukla and shot him inside a police station. At the time of incidence, the BJP government was in power in the state and the current Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was the Chief Minister of the state.

However, Dubey had surrendered to the police in 2002 and was acquitted of the charges.

Vikas Dubey is reportedly having political links and was also a member of a political party in the past. Board has also been seen in the village at a construction site where Vikas Dubey is mentioned as a ‘Zila Panchayat member’.

He allegedly keeps an armed group of henchmen with him.

Vikas Dubey is also named in another high-profile case of Siddheshwar Pandey, the principal of Tarachand Inter College in 2000.