A close aide of gangster Vikas Dubey was killed in an encounter with the Uttar Pradesh Police in Hamirpur district on Wednesday morning, PTI reported. The police also arrested another member of the gang in a separate encounter in Chaubepur area.

The cash reward for Vikas Dubey’s arrest has been increased to Rs 5 lakh now, Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi was quoted as saying by PTI.

“The aide, Amar Dubey, was a co-accused in the Kanpur incident and was killed on Wednesday morning,” Uttar Pradesh Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar, told the Hindustan Times. He added that Amar Dubey was shot by the state’s Special Task Force in coordination with the local police of Hamirpur. A cash reward of Rs 25,000 had been set on his arrest.

Meanwhile, Shyamu Bajpai, who was arrested in Chaubepur, sustained a bullet injury on his leg during the police encounter, Chaubepur Station House Officer KM Rai told PTI. “He was carrying a reward of Rs 25,000,” he added.

The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force also detained Dubey’s brother-in-law from Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol district, an unidentified police officer told PTI. Dubey’s nephew had been detained on Monday.

This came a day after the police arrested three more people, including a close relative of Vikas Dubey, in connection with the case. The people arrested on Tuesday were Dubey’s relative, his neighbour Suresh Verma, and domestic help Rekha. Rekha’s husband, Daya Shankar Agnihotri, was arrested in an encounter early on July 7. There was a reward of Rs 25,000 for Agnihotri’s arrest. Seventeen more accused are still missing.

A deputy superintendent of police, three sub inspectors and four constables were shot dead while trying to arrest Vikas 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.

Meanwhile, all 68 police personnel at the Chaubepur police station were transferred to the reserve police lines on Tuesday, after the investigators suspected their involvement in last week’s encounter. An unidentified spokesperson told PTI that an inquiry is underway and action will be taken based on its findings.

Kanpur Senior Superintendent of Police Dinesh Kumar P had said that 10 police officers have been sent to Chaubepur Police Station from the reserve police lines, as replacements for the personnel who were suspended for their alleged role in the encounter. Some of these personnel were Chaubepur Station Officer Vinay Tiwari, sub-inspectors Kunwarpal and Krishna Kumar Sharma, and constable Rajeev.

The Uttar Pradesh Police said they have put up the gangster’s photographs all over the state, mainly at toll plazas. Officials at the border areas of Lakhimpur Kheri, Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Bahraich and Gorakhpur that lead towards Nepal, have been alerted. The police said they also suspect the gangster may be hiding in the Chambal Valley in Madhya Pradesh.