Lawrence Bishnoi: Prisons fails to stop a career in crime

Ahmedabad: "There are three ways of doing things around here: the right way, the wrong way, and the way that I do it," the protagonist played by Robert De Niro says in the 1995 epic Hollywood thriller Casino. Incarcerated in "complete isolation" at a high-security prison in Gujarat, the gangster Lawrence Bishnoi has allegedly mastered the art of doing things the way he does it — hurt discretely and shine publicly.

If we let the government's facts speak for themselves, the gangster — he doesn't like to be called so — is alleged to be involved in more than 80 criminal cases across the country. Spicing it up, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently made an explosive allegation that Bishnoi's gang was working at the behest of the Indian government to target Khalistani activists in the North American country. 

While India-Canada relations were hitting rock bottom, a murder rocked the financial capital Mumbai with three men emptying their guns on NCP leader and former minister Baba Siddique. It didn't take much time for Bishnoi's name to pop up in connection with the killing.                 

These two recent developments — allegations of targeted killings — have created an aura around the gangster, with fan clubs registering an uptick in activity and a famous filmmaker calling him "good-looking". Indirectly justifying the claims of his invincibility, some officials say there is hardly any strong evidence to link him directly to any of the alleged crimes, especially the ones committed after Bishnoi was jailed.     

"He is calm and composed as if nothing has happened because there is no direct evidence to implicate him. I guess he likes jail better than the free world outside," says an official who has interrogated him.  

From rural to global

Born on February 12, 1992, (as per police records), Bishnoi hails from Fazilka district of Punjab. His father, Lavinder Singh, owns about 100 acres of agricultural land.

A district bordering Pakistan, Fazilka is also close to a tri-junction of the states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Naturally, Bishnoi has a deep network in these states. The region is known for its kinnow fruits and wealthy farmers, who, like Lavinder Singh, send their children to study in bigger cities, mostly Chandigarh, or abroad. 

Bishnoi's entry to the crime world started with the students' union politics in the Punjab University, Chandigarh, in 2010. He was associated with politicians such as Vicky Midukhera, a Youth Akali Dal leader who was shot dead in 2021. The sensational murder of popular Punjabi rapper Siddhu Moosewala was allegedly carried out to avenge this killing. Police records state that Bishnoi's campus life kept him busy in the company of rising musicians, politicians, and criminals.  

It was during his university days that Bishnoi reportedly met his close associate, Satinder Singh alias Goldy Brar. In 2017, Brar was sent to Canada by his father, a police officer, for higher studies. A few years down the line, Brar has become the points man of he jailed gangster, managing his operations from the safety of Canada. Bishnoi is said to have tapped into everything on his way to create a vast network: spread across fields right from Punjab's music industry and drug traffickers to those petty criminals who escaped to Canada, Europe and the US using fake documents.

In his rapid growth as a crime lord, Bishnoi seems to have taken an off-the-beaten path. "Unlike other gangsters, he was not into drugs, was religious and well-kept, which attracted youngsters. Besides, the criminal gangs were not as organised then. Lawrence changed the game by recruiting only youngsters who were barely in their 20s," a source says.

Bishnoi first hit national headlines after he sent a close aide — Sampat Nehra — to target Bollywood superstar Salman Khan in 2018. According to official documents, prepared by the Anti Gangster Task Force (AGTF) of Punjab police, Nehra was sent to Mumbai to do a recce. 

"I sent a message to Nehra that Khan had hurt our religious sentiments by killing a blackbuck, so he should be killed. Nehra went to Mumbai to do a recce and plan Salman's killing. But he was arrested by the Haryana police," the police record states, quoting Bishnoi as saying, referring to the alleged hunting of the animal by the actor in 1998.

The Bishnois — the gangster belongs to the Rajasthan-based community — revere blackbucks.   

In April this year, his gang members were arrested for firing near Khan’s Mumbai residence.

'Phones' keep him busy

The 32-year-old gangster has remained behind bars since 2015 in various jails in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Gujarat. "That's why he knows how the jail works better than anyone else. He also knows that he can't be convicted because he was behind the bars when most of the crimes were committed," the source says. 

A request by the National Investigation Agency, seeking custody of Bishnoi in a cross-border narcotics case in Gujarat, says "he was managing his criminal activities and the gang from the confines of Punjab jails".

The NIA further claimed that Bishnoi was using multiple phones to carry out his activities. However, the source said that the federal agency was finding it hard to get any direct evidence to nail him. 

By this time, Bishnoi had been shifted to the Sabarmati Central Prison, Ahmedabad, from Delhi's Tihar. 

In September 2023, the Union Home Ministry recommended to restrict any transfer of Bishnoi out of the Sabarmati jail. It was based on the NIA's recommendation that "Lawrence Bishnoi easily runs his terror syndicate & his nefarious activities from Punjab jails, and public order in North India may be disturbed if he remains lodged in Punjab Jails." 

Last year, Bishnoi wrote an application to a special NIA court in Ahmedabad objecting to being described as a "gangster" and "terrorist". "My rights as an accused have not been dignified before any of the concerned courts and I have been titled as a gangster and now recently I have been thrust upon the title of a terrorist," he said, complaining that he had been restricted from wearing a T-shirt having the image of Bhagat Singh.

Interestingly, the gangster has not sought bail even once since he was brought to Ahmedabad. He didn’t even hire a lawyer when his remand was being sought by probe agencies, the sources say. Eventually, the court had to appoint a legal aide for him. It seems that restrictions have done little to stop Bishnoi. The India-Canada diplomatic row shows that merely keeping Lawrence Bishnoi in jail may not prevent him from a doing things the way he wants to do.