Vikas Dubey encounter: A look at 5 most controversial ‘encounters' in India

New Delhi, July 10: Vikas Dubey, the prime accused in the cold-blooded murder of eight policemen in Kanpur was gunned down in an encounter when he was trying to escape, following an accident involving one of the vehicles of the Special Task Force (STF), which was bringing him back to UP from Madhya Pradesh, where he was arrested on Thursday.

The Kanpur police in a statement said that after being chased by the police team, he was asked to surrender, but he did not do so. Instead, he began firing, with an intention of killing the policemen. The police team fired in self-defence after which Dubey was injured.

He was taken to hospital, where he died during treatment, the police also said.

However, the police action in the encounter has come under the scanner. Here are five others which led to raging controversies:

Ishrat Jahan case

Ishrat, a 19-year-old girl from Mumbai, along with three others - Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar - were killed by the police in an encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The Gujarat Police had claimed they had terror links and had plotted to kill the then chief minister Narendra Modi.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted by the Gujarat High Court, had concluded the encounter was "fake". Following this, the HC had transferred the case to the CBI. In the first charge-sheet filed by the CBI in 2013, seven Gujarat police officers, including IPS officers P P Pandey, Vanzara and G L Singhal - were named accused. All were booked for kidnapping, murder and conspiracy, among others.

Vanzara was last year discharged in the encounter cases.

Sohrabuddin case

In 2005, Gujarat police had allegedly killed Sohrabuddin Sheikh, claimed to be a gangster, and his wife Kausarbi in a fake encounter.

CBI has charge-sheeted 37 accused including Amit Shah, who was Minister of State for Home of Gujarat when these encounters had taken place, and several police officers in the two cases. Shah is accused of being party to the conspiracy. Some of the accused, including Shah and former IPS officers of Gujarat D G Vanzara and Rajkumar Pandian, have been granted bail.

Lakhan Bhaiya

Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan Bhaiya, considered a close aide of Chhota Rajan was killed in an encounter with the Mumbai Police in 2006. A probe was launched soon after family moved the Bombay High Court seeking a probe into the encounter.

The court awarded life sentence to 21 people, including 13 Mumbai Police personnel, convicted for killing Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan Bhaiya in a fake encounter in 2006.

Warrangal encounter

In December 2008, the three people accused of hurling acid at two girl students were shot dead in Warangal when they allegedly attacked the police team which went to recover a motorcycle used by them in connection with the case.

The police action came in the wake of a public outcry over the acid attack in which the faces of the two girls were disfigured.

One of the victims later succumbed to the burns while undergoing treatment in Hyderabad.

Hyderabad encounter

The charred body of the woman working as an assistant veterinarian at a state-run hospital was found under a culvert at Chattanpalli, about 50 kms from Hyderabad, on November 28, a day after she went missing.

The four men, aged between 20 and 24, were arrested on November 29 for allegedly raping and killing the woman by smothering her and later burning her body.

In the Cyberabad incident, all the four accused were killed at one go in an exchange of fire. Police in both the cases claimed that the suspects "snatched" their weapons and opened fire at them forcing them to retaliatory action "in self-defence."

Netizens hailed the Cyberabad police and Sajjanar for the encounter killing of the accused in the case.