PRAYAGRAJ, June 20 -- The Allahabad high court has granted bail to Vinay Kumar Tiwari, a former station house officer of Kanpur Nagar's Chaubepur police station who is an accused in the Bikru ambush. Tiwari had allegedly informed the main accused, gangster Vikas Dubey, ahead of a police raid on him. As a result of the ambush by the gangster and his henchmen, eight policemen were killed on July 3, 2020. After hearing both sides, Justice Siddharth, in an order dated June 16, directed the applicant to be released on bail. The court observed, "Having considered the submissions of the parties, finding force in the submissions made by the counsel for the applicant, keeping in view uncertainty regarding conclusion of trial, one sided investigation by police, ignoring the case of accused side, applicant being under-trial having fundamental right to speedy trial, the larger mandate of the Article 21 of the Constitution of India, considering the dictum of apex court in the case of Manish Sisodia Vs. Directorate of Enforcement, 2024 Lawsuit (SC) 677, considering 5-6 times overcrowding in jails over and above their capacity by under trials and without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, let the applicant involved in the aforesaid crime be released on bail." During the hearing, the counsel for the applicant submitted that the applicant was in jail since July 8, 2020. The prosecution took more than two-and-a -half years to commence the trial on March 1, 2023 after filing of the charge sheet on September 30, 2020. "Before the trial court, there are 102 prosecution witnesses and only 13 have been examined till date," the counsel said. "There is no credible evidence collected by the investigating officer against the applicant to prove that he informed the main accused, Vikas Dubey, about the police raid against him nor his relationship with the gangster - Vikas Dubey was proved. A number of co-accused have been enlarged on bail," the applicant's counsel said. The state counsel opposed the prayer for bail of the applicant. He submitted that the applicant and co- accused, KK Sharma, who is a police personnel, conspired with Vikas Dubey, which led to the incident and eight police personnel were murdered. On July 3, 2020, DSP Devendra Mishra and seven other UP police personnel were killed in an ambush by the Vikas Dubey gang at Bikru village in Kanpur when they were on their way to arrest Dubey....