Gangster owns up to Gurugram cabbie’s murder in social media post

Police said gangsters of late are active on social media and keep sharing pictures and posts about taking revenge. Investigators believe this is a new ploy to gain public attention and also mislead investigations

An hour after 35-year-old cab driver Rahul Solanki was shot dead in front of his home in Sector 10A on Tuesday night, a man claiming to be a member of the notorious Lawrence Bishnoi gang took to social media to claim responsibility for the murder.

A police team at the spot where taxi driver Rahul Solanki was shot dead on Pataudi road near Saraswati Enclave, in Gurugram. (HT Photo)

The man, Boxer Ritik, made a Facebook post claiming responsibility for Solanki’s murder and also asked other gang members not to support Kaushal, Bawana and Bambhia gangs; else they would also face the same consequences.

Police said gangsters of late are active on social media and keep sharing pictures and posts about taking revenge. Investigators believe this is a new ploy to gain public attention and also mislead investigations.

Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said they have shared the link and profile page with the cyber crime team. “The profile was created four days ago from West Virginia in the United States. The suspect used a social Wi-Fi network to upload the post so as to evade easy detection. We are conducting investigations to ascertain whether the post was indeed made by Ritik Boxer,” he said.

Sangwan said they receive several complaints from people alleging that they received threats from gangsters via social media, but subsequent probes have found these accounts to be fakes. “These days, it is easy to create a profile and upload pictures of gangsters as they will never complain about anyone using their pictures,” he said, adding that almost all gangs are on social media.

Ritik Thakurani (20), alias Ritik Boxer, is an emerging face of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, he said. A resident of Malviya Nagar in Jaipur, Ritik is a notorious criminal with a history sheet, police said. His name had recently cropped up in connection with the attack on a trader in Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan. Police said, so far he has been involved in eight cases -- three in Jaipur, two each in Sri Ganganagar and Hanumangarh in Rajasthan, and one in Gohana in Haryana.

Sangwan said Ritik is known for his social media posts -- he often uploads pictures of himself holding weapons, apart from posts threatening other gang members. “We are questioning the arrested suspect to get more details about the others involved in the murder. We are yet to establish their connection with any gang or gangster,” he said.

“We could not find any strong evidence linking Solanki with other gang members. Once the main suspects are arrested, we will get some clarity on whether they are associated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang,” he said.

Cyber crime police team is keeping a close eye on the recent post and on other social media platforms to check if similar posts have appeared on other platforms.