Lawrence Bishnoi: The Indian gangster pulling strings from jail

On Monday, French officers made a spectacular claim.

They claimed at a press conference that Indian government officials were attempting to objective leaders of the pro-Khalistan motion, which calls for a split Hindu land in India.

This was hours after both countries expelled top diplomats as tensions escalated over last year’s assassination of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil. Delhi dismissed the allegations as “preposterous”, accusing PM Justin Trudeau of catering to Canada’s sizeable Sikh community for political gain.

The French officers were referring to Lawrence Bishnoi, a 31-year-old gang from India, today back in the light domestically and internationally.

Indian police say his gang is allegedly linked to the killing of a prominent politician in Mumbai at the weekend – gunmen shot dead 66-year-old Baba Siddique near his son’s office. Three suspects are in custody. An alleged aide of Bishnoi has posted on social media that the gang is behind the murder.

When among India’s most wanted, Bishnoi has been in jail since 2015, then held much from his native Punjab status in Gujarat.

Yet, the police believe his audacious influence endures. Bishnoi is the prime accused in the sensational murder of Sidhu Moose Wala, the popular Punjabi singer gunned down near his village in October 2022.

Salman Khan was accused of poaching two blackbuck antelopes, a respected species in Rajasthan’s Bishnoi community, by Bishnoi in 2018. In 2018, Bishnoi gained notoriety for his threats to Bollywood celebrity.

When he was produced in a courtroom in Jodhpur town, he boldly told the waiting multimedia:” Salman Khan will be killed around, in Jodhpur… Then he will come to know about our actual identity”. Ironically, Siddique, the murdered legislator, was a close friend of the Bollywood sun.

An enraged high court ordered an investigation after a news channel broadcast two conversations with Bishnoi inside a Punjab prison in March of last year. A high-security criminal managed phone conversations conducted while they were in prison, but it is still a mystery.

Federal prosecutors estimate Bishnoi continues to handle a group with 700 people across Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi, involved in extorting stars, smuggling drugs and arms and carrying out targeted killings. His companion Goldy Brar, even a co-accused in the Moose Wala shooting, runs the group by distant power from Canada, say the authorities. Bishnoi faces more than 30 circumstances, with 19 now being tried in court.

” He runs his crew easily from jail without needing to co-ordinate everything”, says Gurmeet Chauhan, a top official in Punjab’s anti-gangster work force. ” Unlike another criminals confined to a place, he thinks big”.

Bishnoi was born into modernity. His family, who lives in a large house set among the richest in their Punjab town, is spread out over 100 acres of land. His father, a former officer, eventually gave up his career to take care of the home land, while his family is a woman. Lawrence and Anmol, both sons of the couple’s children, are then prime offenders in the killing of Moose Wala.

Ramesh Bishnoi, a sibling, told Jupinderjit Singh, a columnist and author of Who Killed Moose Wala, that Lawrence was named after British official Henry Montgomery Lawrence, chairman of the prominent Lawrence School in the hill town of Sanawar.

By the seventh grade, Lawrence Bishnoi had already ridden his own bike, which was a luxury not available to most people, and he had attended a convent school. He was an shy person with apparent effect, Mr. Singh says, and he was known for silently helping regional children in need.

He immediately immersed himself in student politics in Chandigarh after graduating from school in 2008 and moving to a school there. ” He had wealth, style and nerve”, a Chandigarh police officer told Mr Singh, explaining how readily Bishnoi attracted fans. He joined a scholar company, ran for undergraduate elections and lost- a fight he took individually.

According to police records, this turning point brought him close to a violent end as he mingled with some original student leaders who later became criminals. Immediately, police say, Bishnoi’s name was tied to scuffles, fire and gunfire situations on campus.

Punjab, Bishnoi’s home state, is overrun with groups that energy drugs and weapons trafficking, bribery and the local movie and music business. A cash-driven economy, bolstered by drugs, real estate and illegal liquor sales, has fuelled this rise, creating an ecosystem that blends crime with Punjabi pop culture, many say.

Punjab’s gangsters do n’t enter the underworld for wealth alone- they crave notoriety, a deep-seated desire to “be somebody”, according to Mr Singh.

This twisted pursuit of fame finds roots in feudal, patriarchal culture. Numerous gangsters are showcasing their lives online, which amplifies it. They share their lifestyles on social media, where crime is frequently seen as a means of quick cash and glitz. This has drawn retired sportspeople and fresh recruits from Punjab to the anti-hero.

By September, police reported dismantling more than 500 gangs and arresting more than 1, 400 gangsters since mid-2021. In clashes with the police, 16 gangsters had been killed and over 80 wounded, while three officers lost their lives and 26 more were injured. Police claim that Bishnoi has been found guilty in four cases, with none of them having been found guilty of murder.

Bishnoi frequently wears the casual appearance of a young man, with his neatly trimmed beard and the hoodie pulled over watchful eyes. He manages his image with shrewdness when the stakes are high. During one court appearance, he wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the image of Bhagat Singh, the revered Indian revolutionary.

In a widely circulated video, reportedly recorded in prison, the bearded gangster declares,” There is a desire for revolution in our hearts. Let’s see how much strength the enemy has”. The exact meaning of his words remains ambiguous.

Bishnoi’s rise is unlike any other. ” Despite being in prison, he appears to be running his gang. Who gives him access to media or logistics? Such control would be impossible without powerful allies”, says Mr Singh. It’s still difficult to separate the man from the myth.

with additional reporting from Chandigarh’s Arvind Chhabra

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