Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, a product of a gangster-terror network nexus, has been named by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in several high-profile cases, including his links with banned terror group Babbar Khalsa International, and smuggling of arms and ammunition from Pakistan.
The latest case in which the 31-year-old incarcerated gangster is a key accused is the last week's sensational murder of 66-year-old Baba Siddique, a former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader who was gunned down in Mumbai.
Despite the NIA taking significant steps towards dismantling Bishnoi's criminal network, he continues to execute his design through a large group of henchman and sharpshooters in several states, especially in the North and Western parts of India.
In a bid to dismantle the gangster-terror network associated with the Babbar Khalsa International, the NIA named Bishnoi last year in a chargesheet in a terror case, detailing his criminal activities, and smuggling of weapons, explosives and drugs from Pakistan.
The anti-terror agency had claimed that Bishnoi was instrumental in coordinating communication channels, enabling seamless interactions among gang members, even those incarcerated in jails.
The NIA had claimed that Bishnoi was running an extortion syndicate with Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar, who has close links with pro-Khalistan terror outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI).
Bishnoi, who has been in custody for nearly a decade, has been operating his terror-crime Syndicate from jails wherever he has been lodged over the years.
Goldy Brar is an accused in the killing of Pradeep Kumar, a Dera Sacha Sauda follower, in Faridkot in November 2022.
The Lawrence Bishnoi terror-crime-extortion syndicate was also responsible in the RPG attack on Punjab State Intelligence headquarters in the state's Mohali in May 2023, and it was allegedly carried out on directions of Harwinder Singh alias Rinda, a Pakistan-based BKI terrorist, NIA investigations have revealed.
The NIA had also filed a chargesheet against Bishnoi in a case involving the seizure of around 39 kg heroin by the Gujarat Police in September 2022.
The agency had also attached four properties owned by members of the Bishnoi syndicate. The properties, of which three were immovable and one movable, were attached in a coordinated swoop by NIA teams in Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh under the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The Bishnoi gang operates in several states including Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Jharkhand and always keep trying to recruit gullible youth into it, sources said.