The morning of 27 August 1979. Shan-e-Awadh Express is about to leave for Lucknow at Gorakhpur Railway Station. Then the station shuddered with the thunder of gunfire. The bullets were firing near the first class coach of the train. There was an atmosphere of chaos and panic. It was a very horrifying scene. Janata Party’s 35-year-old youth MLA Ravindra Singh was the target of bullets. His chest was riddled with bullets. The bloodied body was rolled on the floor. The policemen deployed in his security retaliated. A common passenger also got shot and died. Another passenger was injured. Singh was immediately rushed to the hospital but he succumbed to his injuries after battling for life for 3 days.
Ravindra Singh going to Lucknow to attend the assembly session. The next day there was to be a debate on the no-confidence motion against the then Chief Minister Banarasi Das. Singh, who entered politics from student politics, became an MLA in 1977 on a Janata Party ticket at the age of just 33. In 1967, he became the President of Gorakhpur University’s Students’ Union and in 1972 was elected the President of Lucknow University’s Students’ Union. After making a mark in student politics and then winning the legislature, his identity was established as an emerging Rajput politician of the region. In the murder of Ravindra Singh, the name of another student leader of Gorakhpur University, Rangnarayan Pandey, who was close to Harishankar Tiwari came up. A few months after the murder of Ravindra Singh, Rangnarayan Pandey was also killed. Virendra Shahi’s name came in this. Shahi was close to Ravindra Singh and after his death he emerged as the undisputed leader of the Rajputs in the region in the battle for supremacy. After the murder of Ravindra Singh, a new chapter of gang war and feud started in Purvanchal. The feud between Harishankar Tiwari and Virendra Shahi. Shahi quickly earned a name in the world of crime and came to be known as ‘Sher-e-Purvanchal’.
The script of gang war between Brahmins and Rajputs in Gorakhpur was written in the 60s itself. After independence, the first university in UP was established in Gorakhpur in 1956. Surati Narayan Mani Tripathi, the then DM of Gorakhpur, was one of the founders of this university. In those days, control over the governing body of the university meant control over appointments. Tripathi was the President of the Governing Body and Peethadhishwar Mahant Digvijay Nath of Goraksha Peeth (Guru of current UP CM Yogi Adityanath Mahant Avaidyanath) was a member of the Governing Committee. Both wanted their control over the university and from this the foundation of caste-based gang war in Gorakhpur was laid. One was getting support from SNM Tripathi and the other was getting support from Math.
In the 1970s, the student movement was gaining momentum in North India under the leadership of JP. UP was also not untouched by it. Many student leaders of Gorakhpur were established as Bahubali. Harishankar Tiwari was one of them, who was groomed by Surti Narayan Mani Tripathi to counter the influence of the Rajputs in the campus. At the same time another name used to speak in the student politics of Gorakhpur. That name was Balwant Singh. Balwant Singh carved out a new boy Virendra Pratap Shahi who was his cognate. There was an atmosphere of panic in the city due to the war of supremacy between Tiwari and Singh. Both the groups used to indulge in hooliganism. Filled petrol at petrol pump but did not give money. Extortion from shopkeepers and traders. Ordering goods from shops and not giving money. If anyone dares to ask for money, shoot him. Balwant Singh was shot dead in 1978. The murder was allegedly carried out by his close friend Rudal Pratap Singh at the behest of Harishankar Tiwari. When Balwant Singh’s last rites were being performed at Rajghat in Gorakhpur, a crowd of 10,000 people gathered there. After the funeral, Balwant Singh’s supporters, led by Virendra Shahi, surrounded the Cantt Police Station and demanded a named FIR against Harishankar Tiwari. Eventually an FIR was registered against Tiwari.
A few days after the murder of Balwant Singh, Virender Shahi shot Mrityunjay Dubey, a close aide of Harishankar Tiwari. Dubey was shot in the leg. He survived then but later died due to gangrene. After this, there was a murder in revenge. Bachai Pandey, close to Shahi, was murdered in Gagaha. As soon as this information was received, Shahi and his supporters reached Gagaha. When they were bringing Pandey’s dead body, they saw 3 men of Harishankar Tiwari. Shahi ran and killed all three. After this Tiwari faction killed 2-3 associates of Shahi. In this way, a series of ambushes, murders and murders went on in his revenge.
This ‘business’ of extortion and street hooliganism soon turned into large-scale organized crime when both factions jumped into railway scrap contracts. With railway contracts, Tiwari built an economic empire in no time. The battle for supremacy had reached the railway contracts. In the 80s, there was such a state of panic on the streets of Gorakhpur that people from both the groups used to announce through mike that don’t come out of the house at a certain time, bullets are going to be fired.
In 1980, a by-election was held on the Laxmipur assembly seat of Maharajganj. Virendra Pratap Shahi hit Nirdal Taal from there. He was up against Amarmani Tripathi (who later identified himself as Bahubali leader) fighting on a Communist Party ticket. Tripathi was close to Harishankar Tiwari. Shahi defeated Tripathi in the election. Shahi had earlier contested from Basti once too but had to face defeat then. On the other hand, in 1985, Harishankar Tiwari also stepped into electoral politics. While in jail, he contested as an independent from the Chillupar assembly seat in Gorakhpur and won.
The battle for supremacy between Tiwari and Shahi resulted in around 50 killings from both sides. The fighting came to an end with the killing of Virendra Pratap Shahi. Sriprakash Shukla, a fast rising youth in the world of crime, gunned down Shahi in broad daylight in Lucknow. Shukla belonged to the same area as Harishankar Tiwari and in the beginning Tiwari also gave him protection. It is said that Sriprakash Shukla committed the first murder to avenge the molestation of his sister. After that Harishankar Tiwari saved him from the police by sending him to Bangkok. But later Sriprakash Shukla himself separated from Tiwari in his ambition to become the king of Jarayam’s world. Sriprakash Shukla was killed in a police encounter on 22 September 1998, the next year after Shahi’s murder.