“Varchasva” is a gripping Hindi-language novel by IPS officer Rajesh Pandey, a name synonymous with integrity and fearless policing in India. Drawing heavily from the author’s own real-life experience as a police officer, “Varchasva” explores the intricate web of law, crime, politics, and the daily battles of good versus evil on the ground in India. It resonates with those interested in the underbelly of power dynamics, rural-urban divides, and the challenges facing law enforcement in a turbulent society.
At its core, “Varchasva” (meaning ‘supremacy’ or ‘dominance’) is the story of a tumultuous rivalry between two powerful criminal gangs vying for control over a region prone to lawlessness. The narration unfolds through the eyes of a young, upright police officer, whose ideals are tested against the brutal realities of the Indian justice system.
The novel starts with a tense inciting incident—a horrifying crime that shakes the rural district. As the case lands on the table of the protagonist, we glimpse the chaos and fear that pervade local communities. Two crime families—the sinister Singh gang and the equally ruthless Yadav faction—clash over everything from land seizures to political influence, using murder, extortion, and collusion as their chief tools.
Amidst this, the police force, underpaid, politicised, and riddled with corruption, is caught between enforcing the law and succumbing to pressures from above.
In the 1990s, when politicians started getting murdered in broad daylight, it was inevitable that fear would take root in their minds. As a result, many from the new generation—those who genuinely wished to bring change through politics—began to rethink their intentions. The harsh reality of politics falling into the hands of criminals, murderers, dacoits, and rapists was deeply unsettling.
It was around this time that dangerous criminals began receiving grand welcomes into the world of politics—people were seen happily greeting them with garlands at the political gates. This marked the explosive beginning of the criminalization of politics—or perhaps the politicization of crime. It had all the elements of drama: glamour, wealth, the thrill of modern weaponry, and raw power. Wherever the convoys of these political mafias passed, roads would clear automatically out of fear.
One such product of those times was the notorious criminal Shri Prakash Shukla, whose reign of terror shook both Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. He feared no one. There was no trace of mercy in his eyes. He was a ruthless man who, in an attempt to establish control over Gorakhpur’s cable business, killed nearly a dozen people within a week.
Eventually, the Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh Police gunned down Shri Prakash Shukla in an encounter in Ghaziabad, near Delhi. The entire storyline of this book revolves around that encounter. It details the full account of Shri Prakash Shukla’s dramatic end and narrates the gripping saga of one of the most talked-about police operations of that era.