Lawrence Bishnoi is allegedly involved in more than two dozen criminal cases and is also being questioned by the National Investigation Agency
| Photo Credit: ANI
Lawrence Bishnoi, whose associates are suspected to have murdered former Maharashtra Minister Baba Siddique in Mumbai on Saturday, is allegedly involved in more than two dozen criminal cases and is also being questioned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). In custody since January 2015, he is currently lodged in Sabarmati Central Jail of Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Bishnoi’s alleged aide Shubu Lonkar claimed responsibility for the murder and linked it to the death of Anuj Thapan on May 1, 2024. It is said that Thapan died by suicide while in police custody after he was arrested by the Mumbai police for purportedly opening fire outside the house of Bollywood actor Salman Khan on April 14.
Also read: Baba Siddique killing LIVE updates
Bishnoi was born in Punjab’s Ferozpur on February 12, 1993. A constable in the Haryana Police, his father quit the job in 1997 to become a farmer. Bishnoi moved to a college in Chandigarh after completing Class 12 in Abohar and became active in student politics. The first criminal case against him was registered in 2010. While in jail, he developed links with criminal elements.
In due course, he also came in contact with Satwinderjit Singh aka Goldy Brar, who is now a Canada-based “designated terrorist” and carries a cash reward of ₹10 lakh declared by the NIA. It is alleged that Goldy Brar masterminded the killing of singer and rapper Sidhu Moosewala on May 29, 2022.
In October 2020, Goldy Brar’s cousin Gurlal Brar, a close aide of Bishnoi and also a former leader of Student Organisation of Panjab University, was killed in Chandigarh. In retaliation, the Bishnoi gang allegedly killed Youth Congress leader Gurlal Singh Pehalwan in February 2021. Brar then shifted to Canada.
The NIA has alleged that Goldy Brar had links with alleged Babbar Khalsa International operative Lakhbir Singh Landa, an accused in two Rocket-Propelled Grenade attacks in Mohali and on the Sirhali police station in Tarn Taran in December 2022.
In September 2023, the Bishnoi gang had claimed responsibility for the murder of Sukhdool Singh alias Sukha Duneke, who was wanted by the NIA for his purported connection with pro-Khalistan terrorists, in Winnipeg (Canada). The gang had claimed that Sukha Duneke was linked to the killings of Gurlal Brar, Vicky Middukhera (on August 7, 2021), and British-Indian “kabaddi” player Sandeep Nangal Ambian (on March 14, 2022). It also accused Duneke of being close to Canada-based Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dalla, also a designated terrorist.
Bishnoi has repeatedly issued threats to Salman Khan in connection with the Black Buck hunting case. In March 2023, the actor’s office had received a threat via e-mail. Subsequently, police registered a case against Bishnoi and others. On December 5, 2023, Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena chief Sukhdev Singh Godamedi was killed at his residence in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur allegedly by the same gang.
Over the past few years, the NIA has arrested over a dozen alleged members of the Bishnoi gang. The agency arrested Vikramjeet Singh alias Vikram Brar soon after his deportation from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in July 2023. “Besides the targeted killings of innocent people/businessmen, he was involved in cases of smuggling of weapons and extortion in India with the help of dreaded gangsters, Bishnoi, Goldy Brar, and others,” the NIA had said.
Vikram Brar allegedly ran a “communications control room ” for the Bishnoi gang from the UAE. It facilitated calls of Bishnoi and Goldy Brar, and at their behest also made extortion calls to various people.
In June 2023, the NIA arrested another key Bishnoi associate named Vikas Singh for allegedly harbouring those who had carried out the 2022 RPG attack on the Intelligence headquarters of the Punjab Police in Mohali.
The agency has filed multiple chargesheets against Bishnoi and his associates on various charges, including being part of a terror-gangster nexus having links across multiple States in India and overseas.
Published – October 13, 2024 09:42 pm IST