A top suspect in dozens of crimes, including the killing of eight police officers last week, was fatally shot on Friday in police custody while allegedly trying to flee, officials said.

Vikas Dubey snatched a gun from officers after their vehicle overturned on a highway near the northern Indian city of Kanpur and tried to flee, said police officer Mohit Aggarwal. He said Dubey died in an exchange of fire.

Dubey, in his 40s, had given himself up in the central town of Ujjain on Thursday after a weeklong search. He was being driven in a police convoy to Kanpur where the eight police officers were killed.

He is believed to have links with state politicians and the police. Two police officers were arrested this week for allegedly tipping him off about a police raid on his home last Friday.

Amarnath Aggarwal, an opposition Congress party leader, accused police of killing Dubey. “It’s a preplanned murder. It was committed with the motive that Dubey did not reveal the names of people who provided patronage and protection to him.”

Deaths in police custody are not isolated incidents in India.

A report last month by a New Delhi rights group, the National Campaign Against Torture, said at least 1,731 people died in custody during 2019, which means five custodial deaths a day.

In December last year, police shot dead four men suspected of raping and killing a young female veterinarian in southern India after investigators took them to the crime scene. Human rights groups have been calling for investigations into the deaths.

Dubey’s gang of criminals is accused of fatally ambushing officers who had come to arrest them. They blocked the road with excavators and fired from rooftops, police said. Five officers were also wounded and the assailants fled before police reinforcements could reach the area.

Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 230 million, is one of the most impoverished states in India. It is also considered one of the most lawless states with high incidences of armed robberies, kidnappings for ransom and crimes against women, according to the National Crime Record Bureau.

Dubey was allegedly involved in 60 cases of killings, robberies and kidnappings. Among them was the killing of local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Santosh Shukla in a police station in 2001. Two policemen also died in the attack.