Former IPS officer’s book on STF operation wins Rajbhasha Puruskar 2024

‘Varchasva’ documents one of the most significant operations by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) against the notorious gangster Prakash Shukla, who was accused of a string of high-profile crimes in UP and Bihar, including daylight shootings and kidnappings.

Shukla was involved in the 1998 hospital shootout in Bihar that resulted in the killing of then-RJD leader Brijesh Bihari Prasad and his aides, an episode that intensified the STF’s efforts against Shukla.

The book traces Shukla’s rise, his alleged political and criminal manoeuvres, the long pursuit by police and the STF, and the operation that ended in his death.

Former chief minister Kalyan Singh had formed the STF in 1998 with the sole purpose of eliminating Shukla after intelligence inputs indicated the CM too was one of the targets of Shukla.

Rajesh Kumar Pandey, the founding member of the STF, was part of the team that confronted Shukla and his associates in an encounter in Ghaziabad in September 1998.

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