New Delhi: Gorakhpur district administration in Uttar Pradesh carried out a demolition drive at the residence of mafia Vinod Upadhyay's brother Sanjay Upadhyay on Sunday, news agency ANI reported. This comes a week after the house of Vinod Upadhyay was demolished. Sanjay Upadhyay is currently on the run and has a reward of Rs 25,000 on him.
“This was the land of a cold storage plant and was encroached upon by Vinod Upadhyay, Sanjay Upadhyay and their gang members. He (Sanjay Upadhyay) is currently absconding and has a reward of Rs 25,000 on him. He has many cases registered against him,” ANI quoted Krishna Bishnoi, City Superintendent of Police, Gorakhpur, as saying.
Earlier last week, the house of Vinod Upadhyay was demolished amid police attempts to nab him.
SP Krishan Bishnoi mentioned that he has 32 cases against him, including four murder cases.
"He is on the run for the past few days. He has encroached on the government land here and attempted encroachment on the adjacent plot of land too. He also built his house, worth crores of rupees, here. The property was identified by GDA (Gorakhpur Development Authority) and is being demolished after that. Search for him is underway. The reward announced for his arrest will be increased," he told ANI.
On May 23, another case of extortion and threatening was registered against Vinod Upadhyay at Gulriha police station on the complaint of Praveen Kumar Srivastava, a resident of Daudpur. Vinod Upadhyay is among top 61 mafia in Uttar Pradesh.
In 2014, Vinod was booked under cases of Attempt to Murder, Arms Act, and Gangster Act. He absconded as soon as he was released on bail.
In the year 2007, Vinod Upadhyay unsuccessfully contested from Gorakhpur city assembly seat on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket. Due to his proximity to BSP general secretary Satish Mishra, he was made party in-charge of Gorakhpur. BSP supremo Mayawati had also organised a rally in his support at that time.