Gangster Vikas Dubey, wanted in connection with the Kanpur ambush in which eight policemen were killed, was on Thursday arrested at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.

Dubey and his aides had allegedly ambushed policemen, including a deputy superintendent of police, in Bikru village in the Chaubeypur area of Kanpur, where they had gone to arrest the notorious gangster and fell to bullets fired from rooftops last Friday.

Vikas Dubey is not the first gangster from the state. In fact, Uttar Pradesh has a long history of notorious gangsters over the last many decades, which at one or the other time, became a headache for law and order authorities. Interestingly, a look at the life of most of these criminals throws up instances of deep linkages to the politics of patronage.

Here's a list of some of the major gangsters from Uttar Pradesh in recent years:

Munna Bajrangi: A dreaded gangster from the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, Munna Bajrangi is credited with over 40 murders in his nearly two decades of an active criminal career. Originally named Prem Prakash Singh and known to be don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's right-hand man, Munna has been infamous for the brutal murder of bahubali/strongman BJP MLA Krishnanad Rai in 2005. Bajrangi and his gang members killed Rai by firing 400 bullets from six AK-47 rifles, according to an India Today report.

After several years of absconding, Munna Bajrangi was arrested in 2009 from Mumbai's Malad area. He later unsuccessfully fought in the UP Vidhan Sabha elections in 2012 on Ansari's support as a joint candidate of the Apna Dal and the Peace Party from Mariyahu, while lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail.

Munna Bajrangi was eventually killed in Baghpat District Jail by another gangster prisoner Sunil Rathi.

Mukhtar Ansari: Any mention of Munna Bajrangi is incomplete without his gang leader and don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari. He was the prime accused in the Krishnanad Rai murder case among other crimes and spent 13 years in jail but was eventually released last year in July after witnesses against him turned hostile. Originally a member of the Makhanu Singh gang, Ansari later formed his own gang and competed with rival Brijesh Singh for government contracts in the Purvanchal region. Ansari has been elected as an MLA from the Mau constituency five times since 1996.

Mukhtar Ansari's younger brother is Afzal Ansari, currently MP from the Ghazipur Lok Sabha constituency from the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Brijesh Singh: An Ansari rival, Singh is currently an independent MLC from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly. Singh's criminal career reportedly spans over three decades with the don-turned-politician facing charges in 30 cases including the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) on account of murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, public order, extortion, fraud and land grab in several states, including Maharashtra, according to a BBC report. Singh was absconding between 2000 and 2008 with the Uttar Pradesh Police announcing a reward of Rs 5 lakh for him. He was arrested in 2008 from Bhubaneshwar by a special cell of Delhi Police. As per his 2017 affidavit during the elections, Singh has still at least five pending cases related to murder and extortion.

Shri Prakash Shukla: Killed in an encounter in September 1998 by the Uttar Pradesh STF, Shukla was one of the most ruthless gangsters and contract killer active during the 1990s. He allegedly killed a Gorakhpur MLA, a Bihar minister in Patna and even reportedly took a Rs 60 million contract to kill the then chief minister Kalyan Singh, according to a Rediff report.

Shukla was involved in several sensational kidnappings for a huge ransom, including the kidnapping of the son of businessman Kunal Rastogi in Lucknow. The 2005-movie Sehar is based on the STF's work and revolves around various incidents of Shukla's life and eventual death.

Atique Ahmed: Imprisoned for almost three years now, the mafia don-turned-politician became Uttar Pradesh's first gangster to be booked under the 'Gangster Act' on several accounts of dacoity, murder, extortion and fraud. Among the most sensational charges, he was accused in the murder of the BSP MLA Raju Pal, who had defeated his brother Ashraf in the 2004 UP state polls.

According to an India Today report, there are at least 117 cases against him and the Act was first slapped on him in 1986. Ahmed represented the Samajwadi Party in the 14th Lok Sabha between 2004-2009 from the Phulpur constituency and contested elections several times are various levels.