Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 14: Whether behind the bars, or roaming around a free man, there is no stopping of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi from running his gang for extortion or for murder.
The Bishnoi gang is known to operate with over 700 shooters across five states, with international connections as well, according to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). At least 300 shooters are from Punjab.
Even from behind bars, Lawrence Bishnoi is believed to have maintained full control over the gang’s operations. Jail authorities have long suspected that Lawrence Bishnoi, like many other gang leaders incarcerated within India’s maximum-security facilities, runs his criminal empire from within the prison, using smuggled mobile phones and loyal associates who carry out his orders on the outside.
One such example was when Lawrence Bishnoi was found to be using a mobile phone inside Bharatpur Jail to continue orchestrating hits and extortion attempts. The chilling murder of popular Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala in Punjab’s Mansa district in 2022 when he was in Tihar jail, had him the international attention.
The leader of the notorious Bishnoi gang is once again at the vanguard of public interest after its members claimed to be responsible for the killing of veteran Mumbai political leader Baba Siddique, even though Lawrence Bishnoi is currently lodged in the high security Sabarmati Central jail in Ahmedabad, the financial capital of Gujarat.
Mr Siddique, a 66-year-old NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister, was gunned down outside his son’s office in Mumbai’s Bandra East Saturday night after three attackers fired multiple rounds at him. The assailants claimed to belong to the Bishnoi gang.
The killing, part of a deadly cycle of violence involving the gang, has put the spotlight on the deeply entrenched operations of Lawrence Bishnoi, who has demonstrated a powerful ability to organise and execute crimes from inside the very prison meant to contain him and his gang members and is reviving the fear of gang wars and underworld, which was once active in the city for close to three decades since the late 1970s, with Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Rajan and Abu Salem behind the activities.
Bishnoi, who was also behind the killing of a gym owner in South Delhi on September 12, is charged with the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Lawrence Bishnoi, born in 1993, hails from Dhattaranwali village near Punjab’s Abohar, a seven-hour drive from Delhi, where his father, was a Haryana Police constable. Despite his humble beginnings, Lawrence Bishnoi’s ambitions led him down a dark path. It was during his Panjab University days in Chandigarh that he was first introduced to the world of organised crime, meeting the future gang leader Goldy Brar, who would later become his close associate.
He studied till Class 12 and later shifted to Chandigarh in 2010 to pursue a college education. Following enrollment in DAV College, he joined student politics and became president of the Student Organisation of Panjab University between 2011 and 2012.
The first criminal charges against him were framed in April 2010 for attempt to murder, followed by another FIR for trespass in April 2010. In February 2011, a case of assault and robbery of a cell phone was registered against him. All three cases were related to student politics.
Bishnoi was jailed for the first time in Bathinda in 2012, and then shifted to Tihar after being charged with the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). In 2013, he shot dead the winning candidate of the Government College elections in Muktsar and a rival candidate in the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation elections.
Bishnoi has been linked to multiple criminal cases, with over two dozen registered against him, including murders of political leaders and extortion. His gang also ventured into liquor dealing and arms smuggling, often providing protection to murderers. Bishnoi was taken to Gujarat by the state’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in connection with a case of cross-border smuggling.
Jaswinder Singh alias Rocky, a gangster-turned-politician from Punjab’s Fazilka, joined Bishnoi’s gang. He helped Bishnoi expand his operations in in cities like Sri Ganganagar located on the Rajasthan-Punjab border, as well as Bharatpur, under the garb of student politics. Rocky was assassinated in May 2020 in Himachal Pradesh by rival gang member, Jaipal Bhullar.
The gang recruits young individuals, often enticing them with a promise of emigration to Western countries, such as Canada, through social media. The gang’s outreach efforts are complemented by alliances with external elements, including Khalistani terrorists like Harvinder Singh Rinda, who reportedly leverage Bishnoi’s shooters for targeted killings in Punjab.
Bishnoi has been associated with gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and was friends with Sampat Nehra and Haryana gangster Kala Jathedi. His close associates include Goldy Brar, who manages ground-level activities and communication with shooters, and brother Anmol Bishnoi, who was involved in the murder of singer Sidhu Moose Wala. As per the NIA, Bishnoi is using his strong alliances and connections, including the pro-Khalistan groups to continue operations from jail. He strategically avoids bail applications and uses advanced communication methods like VoIP and ‘Dabba Calling’ to stay in touch with his aides.
“Dabba Calling” is a method used by criminals, including the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, to make untraceable calls by routing them through illegal exchanges, bypassing regular mobile networks and law enforcement tracking.
Bishnoi gained notoriety in 2018 when one of his associates, Sampath Nehra, conducted reconnaissance of actor Salman Khan’s residence in Bandra in Mumbai. Nehra said he was tasked with assassinating Khan due to the actor’s involvement in the Black Buck hunting case.
In 2022, Bishnoi’s name resurfaced in the shooting of Moose Wala in Mansa, Punjab. Goldy Brar, operating from abroad, claimed responsibility for the killing of the Punjabi singer, stating it was carried out in collaboration with Bishnoi, who was in Tihar at that time.
In December 2023, a right-wing leader, Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi was shot dead in his Jaipur home. The incident was capture on video with armed men having tea with Gogamedi before firing at him. Rohit Godara, a member of Bishnoi gang, claimed responsibility for the killing on social media.
Actor Salman Khan was accused of hunting and killing two blackbucks in Rajasthan during the shoot of his film – ‘Hum Saath Saath Hai’ – in 1998. He was sentenced to five years in jail but was later granted bail. Blackbucks are considered holy by the Bishnoi community, to which Bishnoi belongs.
In his interview from Tihar Jail in 2023, Bishnoi had stated on camera that his only purpose in life was to kill Salman Khan. “We don’t want money. We just want him to visit our community temple and apologise to us. He humiliated my entire community by poaching a blackbuck. There is even a case against him but he has just refused to apologise,” Bishnoi had said in the interview.
Last year in November, Bishnoi had posted a message on Facebook addressing Punjabi singer Gippy Grewal, which read, “You consider Salman Khan a brother, but now it’s time for your ‘brother’ to come and save you. This message is also for Salman Khan – don’t be in the illusion that Dawood will save you; no one can save you. Your dramatic response to Sidhu Moose Wala’s death did not go unnoticed. We all know the kind of person he was and the criminal associations he had… You’ve now landed on our radar. Consider this a trailer; the full film will be released soon. Flee to any country you wish, but remember, death doesn’t require a visa; it comes uninvited.”
In April 2024, gunshots were fired outside actor Salman Khan’s residence in Bandra. The two suspects later confessed to their link to the Bishnoi gang.
In March 2023, Salman Khan’s manager received a threat email, following which an FIR was registered against Bishnoi and his associate and Canada-based gangster, Goldy Brar, and one Mohit Garg. The email referred to the interview Bishnoi had given from Tihar jail, issuing the death threat. The email sent from Garg’s ID said Brar wanted to talk to the actor “face to face”. It said while information has been passed on this time, the next time, there would be consequences.
In June 2022, a threat letter was kept on the Bandra Bandstand where the actor’s father, Salim Khan, goes for a walk. The letter referred to the murder of Sidhu Moose Wala in May that year, allegedly by Bishnoi gang, and threatened the actor of meeting the same fate as the singer-turned-politician of Punjab.
In 2018, during a court appearance, Bishnoi had made a statement, “We will kill Salman Khan in Jodhpur. Everyone will know once we take action. I have not done anything as of now, they are accusing me of crimes for no reason.”
With global operations spanning across continents, the Bishnoi gang is no small-time syndicate. Their operations are vast and intricate, extending through several Indian states, including Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh, and even have ties abroad, especially in Canada where Goldy Brar is based. Their influence and network are so vast that even when Lawrence Bishnoi is locked behind bars, the gang’s operations continue to thrive.
The involvement of the Bishnoi gang in extortion, murder, and arms trafficking has been steadily rising over the years. The group primarily extorts money from high-profile targets, including celebrities like Punjabi singers, the liquor mafia, and other prominent businessmen, employing professional shooters to carry out hits and intimidate victims into submission.
Be it Gujarat’s Sabarmati Jail or Delhi’s Tihar Jail, Lawrence Bishnoi uses mobile phones to communicate. The gangster, over the years, has been shifted from one prison to another and is kept in solitary confinement. Earlier this year, a video clip viral on social media allegedly showed Lawrence Bishnoi’s conversation with Pakistan-based gangster Shahzad Bhatti.
The mobile phones, belonging to other inmates, are often fitted with high-end VPN networks to mask the IP addresses and locations of people he communicates with. Lawrence Bishnoi uses apps like Signal and Telegram to communicate with his associates in India and abroad. Since the Bishnoi gang’s tentacles spread to several countries, especially in North America, Lawrence Bishnoi is often in communication with his brother Anmol and associates Goldy Brar and Rohit Godara. The gang shares close ties with Khalistani terrorists and Khalistani separatist groups based in North America.
In India, the gang maintains a roster of around 700 shooters. According to sources, the Bishnoi gang gets in touch with local gangsters. These local groups then hire shooters who get arms training and are paid handsomely for any contract killing or political assassination that the Bishnoi gang orders.
The new recruits are often poor, underage boys looking for a quick buck. The potential shooters are not even aware of who they are working for. They are just given one thing: a target to kill.
The Bishnoi gang functions like a corporate company, much like how Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company operates. The Bishnoi gang, besides their massive arsenal of sharpshooters, also has separate divisions and personnel who look after logistics, legal and information gathering.
Over the years, the gang’s activities escalated, and so did their methods. From extorting Punjabi singers and liquor mafia lords to committing high-profile assassinations, the Bishnoi gang has become notorious for the cold-blooded efficiency with which they operate.
Even from behind bars, Lawrence Bishnoi is believed to have maintained full control over the gang’s operations. Jail authorities have long suspected that Lawrence Bishnoi, like many other gang leaders incarcerated within India’s maximum-security facilities, runs his criminal empire from within the prison, using smuggled mobile phones.
