Shri Prakash Shukla

 Shri Prakash Shukla was a dreaded gangster, an Indian killer active during the 1990's mainly in the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP). He was killed on 22 September 1998 in an encounter with the UP police's Special Task Force after chasing and follwing his trails for many days. He was about 25 years of age at the time of his death. He had acquired expertise and free hand in rutless killings. Gangsters and politiccian hired his services to settle scores with their opponents and professional rivals 

Shri Prakash Shukla was born in Mamkhor village, near Hata Bazar, Gorakhpur, eastern Uttar Pradesh. He was son of a retired Air force personnel, who started Thekedaari in Gorakhpur after retiring and returng from the airforce job. In 1993, Pradesh Shri Prakash Shukla inadvertently killed a man called Rakesh Tiwari, for a cable business dispute. However Rakesh Tiwari was shot by mistake. After the incident Shri Prakash Shukla was himself felt very guilty for he had not done it intentionally. The family of Shri Prakash Shukla was assured about the safety of Shri Prakash Shukla's  by a renowned politician of Gorakhpur Harishanker Tiwari. Prakash Shukla was sent to Bangkok to cool off his heels till the matter was hot and boiling. He returned after sometime after being assured of risk aversion. After his return he was compelled as a quid pro quo for the favour he was bestowed by saving his life from imprisonment, to murder Virendra Shahi. This paved the way for his criminal career. Thence after he never looked back and kept on going ahead in his criminal career.

Later he became associated with mafia Suraj Bhan of Mokama, Bihar. He was once the most dreaded and ruthless gangster of eastern Uttar Pradesh and North Bihar who had created panic among others in the business but no one dared to confront him in the area of his influence. He had become the biggest headache for the politicians too who complained to the police department to take urgent action against him.

In early 1997, Shri Prakash Shukla killed Virendra Shahi, a politician and a member of the state's underworld, in Lucknow. Prakash Shukla started the trend of clearing AK-47 and Carbine magazines by spreading bullets on the enemies. He would empty all the bullets of the gun. This trend is still being followed in Chicago of east (Gorakhpur) till now. It was presumed that Hari Shankar Tiwari, who was an opponent of Virendra Shahi, would be targeted next as Prakash Shukla wanted to contest election from the Chillupar assembly seat. In April 1998, the Uttar Pradesh police formed a Special Task Force (STF) to capture or kill 43 top criminals of the state, and Prakash Shukla was on the top of the list. But the main problem faced by the STF was that they didn't have any picture of Shri Prakash Shukla. STF got the information that Shri Prakash Shukla was to attend a marriage anniversary of some of his relative. The STF made special arrangements that some picture of Shri Prakash Shukla was clicked. Shri Prakash Shukla was very meticulous about his identity and photos becoming public. However at least one picture of him was procured by the STF. The STF then began to chase him down. However Shri Prakash Shukla would always give them a miss. He would leave the place before STF had arrived there. The STF also got to know about his girlfriend.

On 26 May 1998, Shri Prakash Shukla's gang kidnapped Kunal Rastogi, the son of a businessman, from Botanical Gardens, Lucknow. His father was shot dead as he tried to save him. The gang allegedly took ₹50 million to free the boy. In June 1998, he also allegedly killed Brij Behari Prasad, a minister from Bihar, in a Patna hospital where he was undergoing treatment. Soon after, Sakshi Maharaj, a Member of the Parliament from Farrukhabad, had claimed that Shukla had taken a contract of ₹60 million to kill then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh. But, he did not reveal the source of this information.

On 8 and 15 September 1998, episodes about Shri Prakash Shukla were broadcast on the crime show India's Most Wanted. The host of the show, Suhaib Ilyasi, claimed that he got threat calls from Shri Prakash Shukla after that. He had also said that he got an anonymous phone call on 10 September 1998 saying Shri Prakash Shukla and his associates had been seen in a blue Daewoo Cielo near AIIMS Delhi. On 21 September, another anonymous caller said that Shri Prakash Shukla and his associates had been seen in Ghaziabad in a blue Daewoo Cielo. The tips were forwarded to the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh police.

The STF kept chasing his trail. On 22 September 1998, Shri Prakash Shukla was shot dead by the Uttar Pradesh police's Special Task Force (STF), outside an apartment complex in Ghaziabad. Shri Prakash Shukla was hiding in the Vasant Kunj area of Delhi. He had come to Ghaziabad to visit his girlfriend. He was on his way to the Palam airport presumably to escape to Ranchi, where his arms-dealer Suraj Bhan lived.. By this time, the task force, which was formed in April, had spent ₹10 million in the investigation and had flown 1,00,000 km between Patna, Lucknow and Delhi trying to track him down. He was tracked down primarily by his mobile phone. He used to change SIM cards but he had used one number more than other for a week. The mobile phone and diary recovered after the shootout provided evidence of his connections to politicians.