Taxi driver murder: Facebook account of ‘gangster’ taken down

The account of Boxer Ritik, which was liked by only 15 people, was deactivated on Wednesday night after Gurugram police wrote to Facebook to take it down before the page could gain popularity

Two days after a 35-year-old cab driver was shot dead in front of his house in Sector 10A, the Facebook account of a man claiming to be a member of Lawrence Bishnoi gang, who took responsibility for the murder in a social media post, was deactivated.

The cab driver, identified as Rahul Solanki, was shot 13 times by three masked men on Tuesday night near his house in Saraswati Enclave Colony in Sector 10A at 9.45pm.

The cab driver, identified as Rahul Solanki, was shot 13 times by three masked men on Tuesday night near his house in Saraswati Enclave Colony in Sector 10A at 9.45pm. Within an hour of Solanki’s murder, a man identified as Boxer Ritik, claiming to be a member of Lawrence Bishnoi gang, took responsibility for the killing in a social media post, and also threatened other gang members.

He also tagged Satinder Singh alias Goldy Brar, who was implicated in the murder of Congress leader and singer Sidhu Moosewala in Mansa, Punjab in May last year. .

The account of Boxer Ritik, which was liked by only 15 people, was deactivated on Wednesday night after Gurugram police wrote to Facebook to take it down before the page could gain popularity.

Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said they are yet to verify if the social media post was actually by Boxer Ritik. “We have been following the practice of deactivating social media accounts of gang members and associates of gangsters,” he said.

According to police officers, they often come across social media profiles in which criminals post photographs of videos while brandishing weapons, and even update their social media status while lodged in jail. “With such acts, they gain attention on social media. Young people involved in petty crimes also try to connect with such criminals through social media,” said a senior police officer.

Police officers said they have deactivated more than 200 accounts in the last 13 months on various social media websites but new accounts have sprung up. Police said such accounts are managed from other countries by many people, so it becomes difficult to track their location. Presently, no social media account of Gurugram-based criminals is active, said police officers.

Sangwan said there have been many incidents where people have used names of gangsters to send threat messages to extort money.

“Some businessmen who approached us last year initially thought that Lawrence Bishnoi had passed instructions from prison, but we traced the identities of the suspects, who were not associated with gangsters, and arrested them,” he said.

Lawrence Bishnoi, Sampat Nehra, Bhupi Rana, Deepu Banur, Ritik Boxer and Lucky, believed to be heading Bambiha gang, are among the most active gangsters on social media.

Meanwhile, police conducted at least 20 raids at different locations on Wednesday and Thursday to arrest the remaining two suspects in Solanki’s murder. One of the suspects, Deepak Raghav (20), revealed crucial details regarding the planning and murder.