Uttar Pradesh Deputy Superintendent of Police Rishikant Shukla was suspended on Tuesday after a Special Investigation Team exposed his Rs 100-crore illicit empire built over decades through systematic extortion, fabricated criminal cases, and intimidation in Kanpur. Once celebrated as an “encounter specialist”, Shukla allegedly weaponised fear of police encounters to force builders, businessmen, and landowners to transfer prime properties worth tens of crores into his name or those of his benami proxies, often at gunpoint. The SIT’s 400-page preliminary report details at least 12 high-value properties across Kanpur, Unnao, and Lucknow registered in the names of his wife, Prabha Shukla, driver, and domestic help.

Victims who spoke to investigators on condition of anonymity described a chilling pattern: Shukla would arrive with armed constables, slap false rape or murder charges, and then offer “settlement” in exchange for land deeds. In one documented case, Kanpur resident Manohar Shukla lost 22 bighas of commercial land valued at Rs 70 crore after the DSP allegedly pressed a pistol to his temple and declared, “Sign, or your family will identify your body tomorrow.” Another builder surrendered a 45,000 sq ft plot on VIP Road after his teenage daughter was implicated in a fabricated POCSO case that vanished the moment the registry was transferred.

At the heart of the syndicate stood Kanpur lawyer Akhilesh Dubey, currently in judicial custody for running an extortion racket. Probe documents reveal Dubey operated as the “brain”, while Shukla provided muscle and official cover. Between 1998 and 2009, when Shukla rose from sub-inspector to circle officer in Kanpur, the duo allegedly settled over 200 land disputes through coercion, earning commissions running into crores. Ill-gotten money was routed into Dubey’s construction firm, M/s Shukla Builders Pvt Ltd, where Prabha Shukla and two serving DSPs—Rajesh Kumar Yadav and Sanjay Singh—were listed as 25% partners each, turning black money into luxury apartments sold at premium rates.

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Political patronage shielded Shukla for years. Sources say complaints filed in 2018 and 2022 were buried after intervention from a former Samajwadi Party minister and a sitting BJP MLA who attended his son’s lavish wedding at Kanpur’s Landmark Resort in February 2025. The SIT has now frozen 18 bank accounts holding Rs 8.4 crore, sealed three farmhouses, and attached a fleet of luxury vehicles, including a Mercedes GLS and two Toyota Fortuners registered in the name of Shukla’s driver. With the vigilance inquiry upgraded to a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, investigators believe the final asset tally may cross Rs 150 crore once shell companies in Dubai and Singapore are pierced.

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