Two videos have surfaced purportedly showing gangster Vikas Dubey, on the run after his gang killed eight policemen early on Friday morning, flaunting his political connections, claiming he “creates” politicians, and mentioning two BJP lawmakers as his “mentors”.

He also claims to be innocent of any crime ever and boasts of “cordial relations with the police”. One of Vikas’s associates has confirmed that a police mole had alerted him about last week’s raid, turning the raiding cops into sitting ducks for his gunmen.

In one of the videos, which TV channels claimed showed a 2017 police interrogation of Vikas, a man resembling the now 45-year-old gangster purportedly names two MLAs from the BJP — Abhijeet Singh Sanga and Bhagwati Prasad Sagar — as his mentors.

Both MLAs denied any links with Vikas. It is not uncommon for suspected criminals to claim proximity to the ruling party before the police.

In the other video, which media reports said was an interview taken by a journalist in 2006, a man looking like a younger version of Vikas names as his mentor a former Assembly Speaker who switched from the Janata Party to the BJP in 1991 and to the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1994.

The interviewee says the late Harikishan Srivastava, who was Speaker from the Janata Party in 1990-91 during Mulayam Singh Yadav’s rule, had “brought me into politics” but does not specify the year.

Police sources say every party took the help of Vikas — accused in murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and extortion cases — to intimidate voters and rivals.

Manoj Shukla, brother of BJP politician Santosh Shukla who was allegedly assassinated by Vikas in October 2001, told reporters that when Vikas surrendered in court in February 2002, leaders from the BJP, BSP and the Samajwadi Party had accompanied him. Vikas was later acquitted for lack of evidence.

Vikas’s wife Richa Dubey has been a zilla parishad member in Kanpur Rural district for over a decade with Samajwadi support.

Both videos show only the speaker and not the questioner. In the purported 2006 video, the interviewee expresses his disgust with heartland politicians saying they “try to finish off their competitors instead of trying to do good and win people’s hearts”.

“There will come a time when the people of UP and Bihar will start chasing politicians and beating them with shoes,” he says.

But he boasts about his political connections, too.

“I create politicians and help them win elections. This is why some politicians of my area see a threat to their future in me and force the police to register false cases against me,” he says.

“I’m a traditional landlord and enjoy tremendous political clout in my area. I was panchayat chief twice and zilla panchayat member once. My wife is a zilla panchayat member.”

He claims the chief of a particular political party — which he doesn’t name — has asked him to get ready to contest Assembly elections.

Vikas never contested any Assembly election, though. However, he was elected zilla panchayat chief for a period after 2006 and his wife continues as zilla parishad member.

The interviewee denies any links to crime.

“People say you are a criminal, you depend more on guns and bombs than on your political influence. The police claim you are involved in many murders, including the shooting of BJP leader Santosh Shukla. You also run an extortion gang,” he says.

“I have cordial relations with the police but some politicians are trying to sideline me. I have never killed or threatened anybody. I don’t even drink tea but I was falsely booked a few years ago in Saharanpur on the charge of taking a banned drug.”

He adds: “This is how I am projected as a criminal. I didn’t kill Santosh. The court acquitted me. In fact, Santosh had killed four members of his own family and maybe someone killed him to extract revenge.”

In the 2017 video, whose sound quality is poor, the man being questioned says: “I work under directions from Abhijeet Sanga and Bhagwati Sagar.”

Sanga, MLA from Bithoor in Kanpur Rural, told reporters: “I don’t need a criminal’s help to stay in politics. The special task force is probing the case and everything will soon be clear. I was the first to reach the spot after the incident. Killing the police was a cowardly act.”

Sagar, MLA from Bilhaur where Vikas’s village of Bikru is located, said: “Vikas worked for my rivals. He’s a big criminal and can say anything. I'm not associated with him at any level.”

State director-general of police H.C. Awasthi on Monday announced a reward of Rs 2.5 lakh for information on Vikas’s whereabouts.