As ED comes for SP leader over old case in UP, a throwback to the ‘Gangs of Gorakhpur’

On Friday, an alleged bank fraud dating back to over a decade brought the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the doors of Samajwadi Party leader Vinay Shankar Tiwari. The former BSP MLA is better known as the son of Gorakhpur’s gangster-turned-politician Hari Shankar Tiwari, whose notorious career in the 1970s and 1980s gave rise to a new generation of strongman politicians. Ultimately, it prompted the state government to introduce the 1986 Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act that is still in use.

The ED raided 10 locations across UP, Gujarat and Haryana allegedly connected to Gangotri Enterprises, a road construction and toll plaza operating company promoted by Vinay. Officials said the ED is investigating accusations of money laundering linked to the alleged Rs 750-crore bank fraud, between 2012 and 2016.

Vinay is a one-time MLA, having won the Chillupar seat in Gorakhpur in the 2017 Assembly polls on a BSP ticket. In 2022, he contested as an SP candidate but lost to the BJP. This is the seat from where his late father Hari Shankar won six consecutive terms, between 1985 and 2007 – first as an Independent, three times with the Congress and twice with Congress splinter groups. He won his first election from inside jail.

Hari Shankar went on to serve as a minister, including at the Cabinet level, in governments headed by the SP, BSP as well as the BJP.

Before Hari Shankar began his career in state politics though, he made his name as a strongman in eastern UP’s Gorakhpur. There were many politicians who came from the world of crime but Hari Shankar remained its key face for decades. In his belt, many preferred to visit him for “justice” rather than approaching courts.

In the 1970s and 1980s, as a slew of