Three Uttar Pradesh Police officers have been suspended in connection with the deaths of eight of their colleagues in an encounter in Kanpur last week, PTI reported on Monday. They were allegedly in contact with Vikas Dubey, the main accused in the deaths.

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

“A preliminary inquiry has been initiated against sub-inspectors Kunwarpal and Krishna Kumar Sharma and constable Rajeev, all posted at the Chaubepur Police Station,” Kanpur Senior Superintendent of Police Dinesh Kumar P was quoted as saying by the news agency.

Kanpur Range Inspector General Mohit Agarwal told The Times of India that the three police officer’s alleged role in providing information about the movement of their colleagues to Dubey is also being investigated.

Meanwhile, the cash reward for Dubey’s arrest has also been increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh, Additional Director General Law and Order Prashant Kumar told PTI.

Also read: Powering Kanpur gangster Vikas Dubey’s arrogance, a political-police nexus that gave him free rein

The Kanpur district administration demolished Dubey’s house on Saturday and arrested his aide Dayashankar Agnihotri a day later. Agnihotri told the police that Dubey was informed about plans for a raid by someone from within the police. Chaubepur Police Station head Vinay Tiwari was subsequently suspended.

The deaths of the police officials in the encounter triggered a political blame game in Uttar Pradesh, with Opposition leaders attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party over the law and order situation in the state. On Saturday, Chief Minister Adityanath called a meeting of top police officers to discuss the Kanpur encounter.