10 hours agoWriter: Rajesh Sahu
That time was December 2004. Jitnarayan Mishra, a vicious criminal of Bhairahwa, Nepal, slapped a student leader inside the Gorakhpur jail. The student leader came out on bail a few days later. On the other hand, Jeet Narayan was sent to Basti Jail. Got bail on 7 August 2005. Jeet Narayan, along with his brother-in-law, Gorelal, sat on a jeep to go to Bakhira in Sant Kabirnagar. As soon as he landed, the miscreants who came from the car surrounded him and started firing indiscriminately. Within 70 seconds, Jeet Narayan and Gorelal were lying on the ground. had died.
It was the same student leader who fired, who was slapped by Jeetnarayan Mishra 8 months ago. My name is Vinod Upadhyay. Vinod’s list of crimes and political reach is long. Before Gangster, he was a student leader. Wanted to become a mass leader but became the biggest mafia of Gorakhpur. In the first story of Gangsters Ka Kahani series, Vinod Upadhyay’s story will be talked about today.
Whoever Vinod wanted to become president
In the 1970s, the politics of Gorakhpur started running from Gorakhpur University. Student leaders like Harishankar Tiwari, Balwant Singh and Virendra Pratap Shahi came into the mainstream of politics. After that it became a trend. The boys went to the university to study. Some would achieve their objective and some would emerge as Bahubali, politician or mafia. Vinod Upadhyay comes in the second category.
Politics started in Gorakhpur University in the 1970s because of JP. Bahubali leaders like Harishankar Tiwari and Virendra Shahi came out.
Vinod relied on fighting instead of contesting elections. In 2002, got one of his colleagues to fight for the post of student union president of Gorakhpur University. He won the election. From here Vinod got access to big people in politics. In 2004, he again fielded a candidate but due to the rules laid down by the Lyngdoh Committee, he could not contest the election. People say that the age of the candidate was more.
Gang formed with the support of new boys
Having been associated with the university for about 10 years, Vinod formed a large gang of students. This was the time when there used to be gangs on caste lines in Gorakhpur. Harishankar Tiwari was the Robinhood of Brahmins and Vinod was his special disciple. Sriprakash Shukla was also among the disciples of Harishankar Tiwari. In 1997, the leader of Thakurs and Bahubali of Maharajganj district Virendra Pratap Shahi was gunned down by Sriprakash in Lucknow.
This was the time when Vinod’s name was not registered in the crime world, but seeing all this gave courage to commit a crime. Vinod Upadhyay became special to Satyavrat Rai after the encounter of Shriprakash Shukla. This Satyavrat Rai was once said to be a mentor to Sriprakash. When both of them came together, the name started coming in the crime, in 1999, one after the other two cases were registered in Gorakhnath police station. First a case was registered for intimidation and second for assault with Dalit. After a few years, there was a fight with Satyavrat over the transaction of money. From here both became enemies.
Bahubali Harishankar Tiwari’s hand was on Vinod’s head, so he would have survived even after the crime.
The leader of Hindu Yuva Vahini was publicly beaten up
Apart from railway contracts, Vinod also used to take contracts of FCI. Once there was a dispute with Sushil Singh of Hindu Yuva Vahini regarding the contract itself. Vinod and his men picked up Sunil Singh at two o’clock in the day. He was beaten up inside the city of Gorakhpur from Vijay Chowk to Ganesh Hotel. Sushil was pleading to leave but the beaters did not have any pity. Later a case was registered but no action was taken.
Beginning in politics through BSP
Vinod Upadhyay started his politics with BSP. Due to his proximity to BSP general secretary Satish Mishra, the party made Vinod in-charge of Gorakhpur. In 2007, made a candidate from Gorakhpur Sadar seat. Mayawati herself went to Gorakhpur to rally in support of Vinod, but when the results came, Vinod finished fourth. Dr. Radha Mohan Das Agarwal of BJP became MLA from Sadar seat for the second time in a row.
Mayawati held a rally in support of Vinod Upadhyay but she could not defeat Dr. Radha Mohan Das Agarwal.
pwd scandal
By 2007, Vinod had 9 cases against him. He had gone to jail many times. In 2007, Lal Bahadur gang opened fire on Vinod Upadhyay gang in Civil Lines area. The people of Vinod gang did not get time to take out the pistol. The bullets started penetrating through the bodies of the vehicles. Ripunjay Rai of Vinod Gang and Satyendra of Deoria had stopped breathing before the rumbling of the trucks stopped. In this case, case was written against 6 people including Ajit Shahi, Sanjay Yadav, Sanjeev Singh, Indrakesh Pandey. Lal Bahadur was not made an accused.
one crime after another
In 2007, a case of murder was registered against Vinod at the Hazratganj police station in Lucknow. A case of attempt to murder was registered in 2008. On one hand the police was investigating and on the other, Vinod was committing crimes. During this, Vinod’s eyes were fixed on the disputed lands. Got many lands in the name of himself and his people. To find out what was going on in other gangs, Vinod cleverly got his people entered in each gang.
On 17 July 2020, Gorakhpur police arrested Vinod in Lucknow. Since then he is in jail.
revenge for two murders
Lal Bahadur Yadav entered politics. Became the block chief of Piprauli. When he came to Gorakhpur University in May 2014, he was shot dead in front of the gate. Death’s Revenge was completed in the form of death. Gorakhpur Cantt police registered a case against a total of 14 people including Vinod Upadhyay. Three are absconding, the remaining 14 are currently in jail.
Went to jail but the pride did not diminish
Case was registered against Vinod in 2014 under attempt to murder, Arms Act, Gangster Act. By 2020, the number of cases registered against Vinod in serious sections reached 25. When released on bail, he fled. Police announced a reward of Rs 25,000. On 17 July 2020, the police arrested Vinod from Vipul section of Gomtinagar. From here it started to get rid of the possession of Vinod and his people’s lands.
younger brother too strong
Journalist Vishnu Tripathi, who covers criminal news in Gorakhpur, said that among Vinod’s five brothers, three are domineering. Vinod’s youngest brother Sanjay Upadhyay once slapped a policeman at the Asuran post. After this slap, he climbed in the eyes of the police. Political parties also started shunning after this.”
So far, the police have seized Vinod Upadhyay’s assets worth about Rs 2 crore. Property worth Rs 13 lakh, including two cars of Lal Babu Yadav of Vinod’s gang, a tractor of Suraj Paswan, a pucca house, four, four wheelers of Arjun Paswan, land along with property worth Rs 96 lakh have been confiscated. At present, the sun named Vinod is moving towards setting.