Vikas Dubey (December 26, 1964July 10, 2020) was a notorious Indian criminal, history-sheeter and a gangster-turned-politician from Kanpur,Uttar Pradesh particularly infamous for Bikaru case in July 2020. He was commonly known as "Vikas Pandit", naming himself after the titular character of the 1999 film Arjun Pandit. He was also alternatively referred to as "Pandit Ji". Prosecutors began the first criminal case against him in the early 1990s, and by 2020, Dubey had over 60 criminal cases filed against him. He was connected to the murder of a minister of state, and in another incident, was the main accused in killing eight policemen during an attempted arrest. Uttar Pradesh Police declared him an absconder with a bounty of ₹5 lakhs on him, and he was arrested on July 9, 2020, in Ujjain. He was killed on July 10, 2020, in an encounter, after the police vehicle carrying him met with an accident. Media reports state that because of his political connections, Dubey had been acquitted for most of his murders, despite the presence of multiple witnesses at the scenes. Following his death, a judicial commission led by a retired Supreme Court judge, B. S. Chauhan, was initiated to probe Dubey's death and how he managed bail, among other things. Early life Dubey was born in a brahmin family in Bikroo village near Bilhaur in Kanpur Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh. From a young age, he formed a local gang and was responsible for criminal activities, including "land grabbing" and murder. He often targeted people for land grabbing as he perceived them to be easy targets. Dubey soon became one of the most wanted criminals in Kanpur. The first case lodged against him, in 1990, was for murder. Soon, he was associated as a close ally of Harikishan Srivastava, a local politician. Srivastava was then a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the mid-1990s. Dubey also joined the BJP in 1995-96 and won elections at the district level, allegedly by employing muscle power. His wife, Richa Dubey also won elections of local bodies. Dubey was the primary accused in the 2001 killing of BJP leader Santosh Shukla, who was then a minister of state. He was arrested but was later discharged, allegedly due to his political influence. July 2020 encounter On July 3, 2020, during an attempt to arrest Dubey and his men, eight