Hazaribagh, June 21: Around 20 days have passed since the Hazaribagh court shootout in which Ramgarh gangster Sushil Srivastava and his two henchmen were killed, but the main accused and mastermind, Vikas Tiwary, is still at large, triggering whispers that he is being shielded by police.

If sources are to be believed, Vikas, who took over the reins of the Bhola Pandey gang after its founder Bhola and his nephew and heir Kishore Pandey were killed by Srivastava's men in 2010 and last year, respectively, has many "sympathisers" in police, particularly in Patratu of Ramgarh district.

This perhaps explains why he has managed to evade arrest till now even though his father Shambhunath Tiwary has already landed in the police net and is learnt to have spilled crucial information about the gang, sources added.

"Vikas has not been arrested so far because of his links with senior policemen. In Patratu, he always pumped money to get police officers of his choice posted there. In fact, he had once spent Rs 8 lakh to facilitate posting of an officer in the district," a police officer told The Telegraph.

Police records confirm that on April 15, Vikas and his four associates had gunned down a contractor, Om Prakash Singh, in Patratu. Although he was made an accused in the case, no effort was ever taken to arrest him.

Strongly refuting all charges, deputy inspector-general (Hazaribagh range) Upendra Kumar said efforts were on to nab Vikas and he would be handcuffed soon. "Our teams are on a manhunt. Whenever we get any information about Vikas, we conduct raids at the suspected hideouts. We have created enough pressure and he will either be arrested or surrender," Kumar told The Telegraph.

During the June 2 shootout inside the civil court, 18 policemen were escorting the gangster, but only one constable is said to have fired back. But another story doing the rounds now says that it was Srivastava's henchmen who had fired while the policemen fled.

Asked about this, Kumar said: "This is not true. One constable had fired back, injuring one of the shooters. It's sheer chance that no blood was found on the wall that the injured assailant managed to scale."