Lucknow: The four men who allegedly shot at Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad last week have a fascination for guns and jailed gangsters, show social media accounts under their names.
The accounts also show that some of them have served time in prison. This was confirmed by Saharanpur police.
Arrested Saturday, the men, all in their 20s, were upset with Bhim Army co-founder Aazad over his outfit’s activities against their community’s events, police sources told ThePrint.
The social media accounts running under their names — Vikas Rana alias Vicky Rana Rankhandi, Abhishek Thakur alias Lovish Thakur, Prashant Rana, and Vikas alias Vicky Rajput Gonderya — have shared news reports on the attack on Aazad and posts eulogising them as “UP ke sher (lions of UP)”. User comments include: “Char ne sarkar hila di (four people have shaken the government) and “Jai Maharana”.
The accounts have photos of the accused wielding weapons, pictures of rallies by the Rajput community, and even jailed gangsters Monu Rana and Lawrence Bishnoi.
Two of these accounts — Rankhandi’s and Prashant Rana’s — were still active at the time of filing of this report.
Saharanpur Superintendent of Police (Rural) Sagar Jain told ThePrint that investigators have taken note of this social media activity. On posts featuring gangsters Monu Rana and Lawrence Bishnoi, he said police would question the accused on this angle as well.
He further said that so far, the men have not revealed any influence of the gangsters, adding, “It is possible that their friends shared something and they shared it too. They are all criminals and possess arms.”
Speaking to the media Sunday, Aazad had expressed doubts over the police investigation and said it was possible that “someone paid the youngsters for the attack”.
He had alleged that the arms used in the attack were not country-made pistols, as claimed by the Saharanpur police. However, SP Jain said two country-made pistols were recovered from the accused and had been sent for forensic examination.
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‘Bhai ko support karo’
Rankhandi’s Instagram account has the maximum number of such posts and stories — the latest being about their arrest. The youth belongs to Rankhandi village of UP’s Deoband.
One of his Instagram stories urges social media users to share pictures of Rankhandi and another accused, Abhishek alias Lovish “so that in case there is a repeat of the Shabbirpur incident, their brothers can take revenge in the same manner”.
In 2017, Shabbirpur village of Saharanpur was rocked by a series of clashes between Dalits and Thakurs over a rally commemorating Mewar’s Rajput warrior-king Maharana Pratap. Stone-throwing led to a Thakur youth’s death, further escalating the clash which saw 14 persons injured and 25 houses torched, according to media reports.
Then there are videos of the four accused in police custody with captions like “4 ne sarkaar hila di, agar yeh 40 hote to kya hota (Four have shaken the government, what would have happened if they were 40?), chitah (cheetah) and “bhai ko support karo (support your brother).”
Another story on the account uploaded Monday has a warning for those who think Rajputs have “given up fighting”: “Ye unke liye jawab hai jo sochte hain Rajputon ne jung chhorr di hai, unhe batana chahooga humne na ladna chhorra hai, na ladna bhoole hain (This is an answer to those who think that Rajputs have given up fighting. I want to tell them that we have neither stopped not forgotten fighting).”
Arms & gangsters
The accounts under the names of both Vikas Rana aka Vicky Rana Rankhandi and Vicky Rajput Gonderya have pictures showing them carrying swords and pistols.
Gonderya is from Haryana’s Karnal. His car was allegedly used in the attack and was recovered by Saharanpur police last week. His account has pictures of Haryana gangster Monu Rana, who is currently in jail in connection with a murder case, and Lawrence Bishnoi, said to be the main conspirator in Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala’s murder.
One of the posts shared on Gonderya’s Instagram account on May 8 2021, is a collage of pictures of Monu Rana and himself, captioned, “Greetings of Maharana Janmotsav from MR (Monu Rana) Group.”
Another post has a picture of Bishnoi while another has a photo of Monu Rana holding two pistols. There are also pictures of a 2021 rally on the birth anniversary of Maharana Pratap and a 2020 post with a picture of Gonderya holding a sword.
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In & out of jail
Instagram accounts under the names of Rankhandi and Abhishek Thakur alias Lovish have videos of the duo purportedly coming out of the Deoband jail on separate occasions.
In a video shared by Rankhandi’s account on 8 June 2023, a video of him purportedly coming out of jail is captioned: “welcome back #307.”
On 9 April this year, Rankhandi and two others, namely, Karan Fouji and Vishal alias Popat, were booked under IPC section 307 (attempt to murder) for allegedly firing at a youth in Deoband, according to the FIR, seen by ThePrint.
A Saharanpur police officer confirmed that Rankhandi was in jail for some time and came out on bail last month.
Likewise, the account in Thakur’s name has a video of the him along with four men in court premises under police custody. The video was shared 15 May this year.
Thakur was arrested by the Deoband police following an exchange of fire with cops on 11 March 2022 in the aftermath of firing at the jailor of the sub jail of Deoband for which three FIRs were lodged against him and others. ThePrint has a copy of all the FIRs.
The Saharanpur police officer quoted above confirmed that Thakur had only recently come out on bail after spending a few months in jail.
The Instagram account under the name of the fourth accused, Prashant Rana, also has pictures and videos of him holding a hookah and of him near the statue of Rajput ruler Prithviraj Chauhan which was unveiled in Shamli on 7 June 2022. In other videos, he can be seen seated in a car with another person holding a gun.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)