A gang of criminals killed eight policemen, including a deputy superintendent, and wounded seven after a 1.30am gunfight in a Kanpur village on Friday, shredding chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s claims of Uttar Pradesh being a model of law and order.

Villagers’ accounts and police sources’ versions suggested the team of 18 cops had been poorly armed and had not properly planned the raid on the village home of the politically connected gangster Vikas Dubey, 45.

Officers said Vikas, accused of carrying out voter intimidation for various political parties, may have been warned about the raid from within the police department. Some suggested the “tip-off” that led to the raid may have been a “trap”.

A parked earthmover was blocking the road on the edge of the village, 50 metres from Vikas’s sprawling house, when the police team arrived, state director-general of police H.C. Awasthi said.

“The criminals started firing on the force as soon as the policemen got off their vehicles. Eight members of the department were killed.”

Eyewitnesses at Bikru village in Kanpur Rural district, 90km west of Lucknow, said the gang — believed to have about a dozen members – fired from the terraces of Vikas’s and other houses, using what appeared “automatic rifles”.

The cops — who police sources said carried “old” Insas rifles and revolvers that the government had promised last year to replace — tried to take cover behind trees in the dark and fire back. But they were outgunned.

Villagers told reporters that the leader of the team, Bilhaur circle officer Devendra Mishra, a DSP, took shelter in a nearby house but the criminals later dragged him out and shot him in the head.

Some villagers said that after the gun battle, the gang members beat up some of the injured cops before shooting them dead point-blank. The gang then left the village. It’s unclear whether any gang member was injured.

A larger police team made a second raid on the village around 4am and shot dead two relatives of Vikas who had allegedly fired on the cops and tried to flee.

“The police gunned down Om Prakash Pandey and Atul Dubey, maternal uncle and cousin of Vikas, during an encounter outside the village. The special task force is probing the case and trying to arrest Vikas, who is absconding,” DGP Awasthi said.

However, some villagers said the duo had nothing to do with the gang, and alleged they were shot dead after being taken into custody.

The police have detained several relatives of Vikas in Lucknow and Kanpur city.

A senior officer in Lucknow, who didn’t want to be quoted, said: “Recently, Vikas’s gang had clashed with that of a local rival, Binu Tiwari. Maybe the rival group had told the police about Vikas’s presence in the village. But it’s also possible that the police were trapped. The force went there without any preparation to deal with an extraordinary situation.”

Cars with shattered windowpanes parked inside gangster Vikas Dubey’s house. (PTI) PTI

Prashant Kumar, ADG, law and order, said: “The police team failed to assess the situation.”

A.K. Jain, a retired DGP, hinted at the cops being betrayed by their colleagues. “This criminal has good contacts with some corrupt policemen,” he said.

“It’s very tough to transfer corrupt policemen in Uttar Pradesh because they are patronised by politicians.”

Apart from DSP Mishra, the slain policemen include Shivrajpur station house officer Mahesh Chandra Yadav, Mandhana outpost OC Anup Kumar Singh, sub-inspector Nebu Lal and constables Sultan Singh, Rahul Kumar, Bablu Kumar and Jitendra Pal Singh.

The raid party was made up of cops from Shivrajpur, Bithoor and Chubepur.

Officers said that Vikas, a civil contractor-cum-gangster, faced 52 criminal cases including some relating to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and extortion.

He was arrested five years ago and sentenced to a life term in the murder of Siddheshwar Pandey, a retired school headmaster, but got bail last year after challenging his conviction. He had been arrested in 2001 on the charge of killing BJP politician Santosh Shukla but was acquitted for lack of evidence.

Vikas had been elected village panchayat chief and then zilla panchayat president in the past. His wife Richa Dubey is still a member of the zilla panchayat.

Yogi Adityanath’s office tweeted: “The chief minister has directed the DGP to take strong action against the criminals who executed such a gruesome incident and asked to make available a report immediately from the spot.”

Adityanath had last year said the law-and-order situation in Uttar Pradesh was an example for other states and was attracting investors.

Adityanath has announced Rs 1 crore for the family of each slain policeman, a special monthly pension, and a job for a member each.

In Dewapur village in Allahabad, five members of a family including Vimlesh Pandey, 40, a village vaidya (untrained ayurveda practitioner), his son and two daughters were hacked to death at their home on Thursday night.

K.V. Ashok, additional superintendent of police, said: “We are trying to find out the reason behind the crime and identify the killers.”