The most interesting FB page is of ‘emerging don’ Aman Mani Tripathi
The most interesting FB page is of ‘emerging don’ Aman Mani Tripathi
Mafia dons from Uttar Pradesh — both slain and jailed — are “active” on social networking sites, especially Facebook.
The slain dons are being kept “alive” by their friends and supporters who keep posting items from time to time to revive memories of the dons and connect with people.
The jailed dons are also active on Facebook though they insist that it is their sons/nephews who manage their pages because the people from their constituency want to remain connected.
Virendra Pratap Shahi, the don from Gorakhpur who is said to have built the city into the crime capital of north India in the 70s and 80s, was shot dead in Lucknow, in 1997.
His Facebook cover-photo screams “Bahu Bali” and greetings on various festivals are extended to his supporters on his behalf. Supporters in turn pay their respects to the slain don on his death anniversary and keep reminding people that he was the original “Sher-e-Purvanchal”.
Eighteen years after his death, his page has managed 520 likes and has over 3,300 friends.
Another slain don active on Facebook is Shri Prakash Shukla. One of the most dreaded gangsters in the history of Uttar Pradesh, Shukla’s activities in the underworld had led to the creation of the Special Task Force in Uttar Pradesh in 1998. The same year, the gangster was shot dead by STF in Ghaziabad.
The most interesting Facebook page is of an “emerging don,” Aman Mani Tripathi, son of former minister Amar Mani Tripathi. Aman Mani is out on bail in a kidnapping case and is facing a CBI probe for the “accidental murder” of his wife Sara. His cover photo has a slogan: “My name is Aman, I am an accident survivor, not a criminal”.
While he was in jail last year, he had been posting on his Facebook page, but stopped after the media reported it. He has now started a campaign called “Justice for Aman” and has 2,775 likes.
His Facebook page goes by the name “Shri Prakash Shukla (Don)” and has a cover photo that was published in a newspaper and was taken from police records. Till a week ago, the cover photo of Shukla was the one taken after his encounter and showed a close-up of his blood-splattered face. It has been removed now.
The FB page gives the impression that the don is “alive”. He is said to have started studying in January 2015, got into a relationship in January 2015 and also got married in January 2015. The significance of January 2015 is not yet known.
He is introduced as “Leader of Gangster Group (GG2)” and the lone post on his FB wall says, “I am a gangster and gangsters don’t ask questions. Every human being has a bit of gangster in him”.
Among the jailed dons who are “socially active” is Mukhtar Ansari. He has been behind bars in Agra jail since the past 11 years for the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai.
His page is managed by his family members and gives information about welfare programmes in his constituency.
Ansari does not directly post anything on the site, but his aides claim that he remains updated about the activities on his page.
Another don who recently made his debut on Facebook is Brijesh Don. He was arrested from Odisha in 2008 and is lodged in Varanasi jail. He was recently elected member of the UP legislative council. His Facebook page has 1,895 followers and 4,969 friends and his account is managed by his nephew, Sushil Singh, also an MLA. The maximum photos on his wall are of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Aman’s parents – Amar Mani and Madhu Mani – are serving a life term in jail after being convicted for the murder of poetess Madhumita Shukla in 2007.
