'Scored Well in Class 12': Killed in Vikas Dubey Encounter, Prabhat's Mother Says He Was Just 16

Prabhat Mishra also known as 'Kartikey', who was killed in an encounter by UP Police amid their search for gangster Vikas Dubey, was a minor, his family has claimed.

Merely 10 days before he was killed, Mishra has passed his Class 12 Uttar Pradesh school board exams on June 29, his family said. According to his Aadhaar card, and Class 10 marksheet, he was born on May 27, 2004, which makes him 16 years old, states a report by the Indian Express.

Notorious gangster Vikas Dubey was wanted for the death of 8 policemen, and was carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh for information leading to his arrest. The gangster had been on the run since last Friday night when a police party, which had gone to arrest him from his house in Bikru village in the Chaubeypur area of Kanpur, was ambushed.

Kanpur range Inspector General Mohit Agarwal said he did not have any information on Mishra's age, adding that Haryana Police had recovered pistols from him on July 8 during his arrest, that were used in the Bikru shootout.

Mishra was held in Faribadabad, and Faridabad police had said that Mishra's age was 19. Agarwal said Dubey would influence youth in his gang akin to terrorists, the report states.

When Mishra was being brought from Faridabad to Kanpur on July 9, he snatched a sub-inspector's pistol and attempted to escape, said the UP Police.

It was said that the encounter took place in Panki, Kanpur. After the police vehicle got a flat tyre, Mishra tried to take advantage of the situation and opened fire on the policemen. He was fired at by the police personnel in self defence, said the UP Police.

Mishra's mother Geeta told Indian Express that after the Bikru shootout, she had asked her son to leave the village for a few days.

Later that night, she said, police came and took away her mobile phone. Unable to remember Mishra's phone number, Geeta said she was not able to contact him after he left.

She came to know of his arrest on July 9, and said that she did not know the two men that the police said were with her son at the time. She added that the family did not have any relatives in Faridabad.

Only a few hours later, Geeta learned of her son's death from the media; that the police had killed her son. She said it was "murder", the report states.

She said she had been told by police the firing had taken place from her terrace on July 3. According to her, she "did not know the truth", as she had not allowed anyone to enter her premises.

She is of the view that that the police killed her son as the criminals used her terrace. She now fears for her husband's safety. Geeta said that her husband, Rajendra Kumar, had not been home since the shootout, in fear of the police.

Geeta, showed her son's Class 10 marksheet in which he had scored 78% per cent. The family said that he was a good students, and his Class 12 exams too, he scored 61% per cent marks.

She said that Mishra had not collected his marksheet from his school - Shri Bajarang Higher Secondary School - yet. The rueful mother said her son had even wanted to join the Air Force, and that a child with such good marks would be involved in criminal activities. She said the police was false blaming him.

Mishra's elder sister Himanshi, a graduate who is now studying for a basic training certificate, told IE that the police was trying to frame her father too now.

She said the family had come to know that a man called Shashi Kant - another Bikru resident who had been arrested for the July 3 shootout - had said that her father was also involved. Himanshi was at a relative's home at the time of the shootout.

Mishra's mother has now removed all government documents, which include all educational qualifications of Mishra and Himanshi, from her house, in fear that the police will destroy them in a search.

UP Police said that five days after the Bikru shootout, Faridabad police had arrested Mishra and two others who were alleged to also be Dubey's aides; Shrawan and his son Ankur from Kanpur, the report states. Police had received information that aides of the gangster were hiding at a house in New Indira Nagar, and said the three were held after an exhange of fire.

According to Faridabad Police, Mishra had confessed of fleeing with Dubey after grabbing two pistols and cartridges that had belonged to policemen. Shrawan and Ankur are currently in judicial custody.