The Kanpur district administration on Saturday demolished the house of Vikas Dubey, the main accused in the killing of eight policemen in an encounter in the city the previous day.

Kanpur Inspector General Mohit Agarwal said the local residents told them that the house was built on illegally occupied land and Dubey was carrying out criminal activities from there, ANI reported. “The police will seize his illegal properties and money in his bank accounts under Gangsters Act,” he said.

Agarwal added that a local station house officer, who fled the site of the encounter, has been suspended. “If his [the SHO’s] involvement or that of any other personnel of the police is found in this incident, they will be sacked from the department and also sent to jail,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.

Unidentified police officials told PTI that a surveillance team is scanning more than 500 mobile phones to trace Dubey, who has been missing since the encounter. They added that 25 police teams have spread across the state to capture him.

A deputy superintendent of police, three sub inspectors and four constables were shot dead while they were trying to arrest Dubey, who has 60 criminal cases against him. The encounter happened in Bikru village on the intervening night of July 2 and July 3. Four others were critically injured.

Opposition leaders had hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh over the law and order situation in the state. On Saturday, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also accused the BJP of having links with criminals in the state. The party said that it will launch an online campaign against the deteriorating law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on Saturday called a meeting of top police officers to discuss the law and order situation in the state after the Kanpur encounter, according to ANI.