Bikru ambush: Five years on, injured policemen asked to repay medical aid

Five years after the Bikru ambush in Kanpur in July 2020, the incident has returned to the spotlight due to a notice served on injured police personnel, directing them to return the financial assistance they received for treatment from the government at that time.

- Haidar Naqvi

KANPUR:

The order, issued by Kanpur's DCP, headquarters, has caused concern among the five policemen who had sustained injuries during the raid on the night of July 2-3 2020. Eight police personnel were killed in the ambush by gangster Vikas Dubey and his henchmen.

The injured officers—sub-inspectors Kaushlendra Pratap Singh, Sudhakar Pandey, and Ajay Kashyap, head constable Ajay Singh Sengar, and constable Shivmurat Nishad—were reportedly granted Rs 6.5 lakh each for medical expenses by the police department in the aftermath of the carnage.

According to the notices, copies of which are with HT, the amount was disbursed from the Jeevan Rakshak Nidhi (Life-Saving Fund) and must now be recovered. The fund corpus is managed by the police headquarters (PHQ), which provides financial assistance in case of medical emergencies to policemen.

Joint commissioner of police, law and order, Ashutosh Kumar said this was a kind of temporary and interest-free loan given for medical emergencies. The recipient must submit the bills countersigned by the chief medical officer to avail rebates.