A yearlong probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the terrorist gang syndicate has revealed a situation akin to Dawood Ibrahim gang of the 1990s, which later joined hands with the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan and was responsible for 1993 Mumbai blasts. The emerging gangster pro-Khalistani elements nexus is akin to the scenario that existed in Mumbai in early 1990’s, the NIA has observed in multiple chargesheets.
The two main gangs which are at loggerheads now are those of Lawrence Bishnoi and Kaushal Chaudhary similar to the rivalries of underworld dons Dawood and now jailed Chhota Rajan. The federal agency is investigating more than a dozen of cases involving terrorist gangsters’ syndicates and the PKE and have arrested more than 45 suspects. However, foreign handlers in Canada, US, Dubai, and the UK continue to remain at large.
Jailed Lawrence Bishnoi is said to be mastermind who brought together the criminal gangs of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Chandigarh. The growth of Lawrence Bishnoi and his terror syndicate has similarities akin to the rise of Dawood Ibrahim, a wanted terrorist, gangster and underworld kingpin who head the notorious terror syndicate D-Company.
These gangsters encourage and engage their criminal network to lure unemployed youth not only in Punjab but also from neighbouring states by offering them huge amounts of money or promise them of settling abroad. The gangs have been involved in the deaths of famous singer Sidhu Moosewala, political functionaries like Raju Theth and socio religious leaders like Pradeep Kumar.
Bishnoi and Satinderjit Singh (Goldy Brar) now based in Canada were studying in Punjab University, Chandigarh from 2009 to 2014. In 2009 an FIR was registered against Bishnoi in Chandigarh for firing on the then party president of Punjab University Student Union (PUSU), Uday Warring and he was lodged in Chandigarh Jail.
After his release from jail, Bishnoi formed a gang with Goldy Brar, Vikram Brar, Anmol Bishnoi, Sachin Thapan and Sampat Nehra and started visiting several colleges and confronted opponents to establish supremacy in politics. As many as 13 criminal cases were registered against him by 2012 after which he fled from home and started living with his associates. The gang involved in criminal activities started seeking extortion from liquor contractors, drug smugglers and businessmen.
The rival gang of Kaushal Chaudhary, comprising Devender Bambiha, Neeraj Bawana and Amit Dagar operates in Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and UP. As per the NIA probe, individuals gangs felt the need to increase their areas of influence., Hence individual gang leaders joined hands to share resources fir increasing criminal activity over wider area.
In Gurugram and neighbouring areas, Kaushal Chaudhary and Amit Dagar ran a criminal syndicate Similarly, Neeraj Sehrawat alias Neeraj Bawana. Naveen Dabas and Sunil Baliyan alias Tillu Tejpuria were operating in areas like Rohini. In Yamunanagar, Chandigarh and adjoining areas Bhupinder Singh and Gurav Patyal were involved in criminal activities Sukhpreet Budda ran a criminal syndicate within the minds of the people and carry out extortions over a wider area.
Bishnoi formed and forged alliances with gangs in almost all North Indian states. Outside Punjab, he struck alliances with Sandeep Jatheri and Virendra Pratap in Haryana. Jitender Maan in Delhi, Anandpal Singh in Rajasthan and later his protégé Anuradha Choudhary aka Revolver Rani became members of the terror syndicate. Jatheri and Anuradha recently got married amid heavy security in Delhi.
According to the NIA, these alliances made Lawrence Bishnoi a more powerful gangster. After forming alliances, Bishnoi could operate even in jail. He is so adept in operating from prison that he has not applied for bail in any case since the last many years, officials told Indian media agencies. Bishnoi is one of the most feared terror syndicates in North India and whose associates run upto 700 and 300 are from Punjab.
His criminal operations spread to various countries including India, Canada, USA and Dubai. In India, the Bishnoi’s gang operates in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, as per investigations.
Bishnoi was introduced to one Manish Bhandari, presently living in Thailand and has been involved in money laundering. He runs the night club chain named Bollywood Club, Cama Club, and hotel cum restaurant Punappa in Thailand reported the NIA. The money collected thorough extortion and illegal liquor and arms smuggling business is sent to Bhandari through Hawala for investing in night clubs and bars.
The profits from targeted killings and extortion were shared with everyone to provide for their foot soldiers and to invest in properties. A huge amount of money generated through extortion activities was sent to Canada, USA, Thailand and Australia for the use of their associates based abroad, family members and for funding activities of pro-Khalistani elements. Recently, the gang killed Indian National Lok Dal Chief Nafee Singh Rathee and Sachin Munjal a Gurugram based bookie.
From 2015, Punjab has witnessed a rise in sacrilege incidents with the 2015 Bagari Morcha agitation and Nabha Jailbreak in 2016 being the watershed moments, Sikh radical leaders held a protest in Bagari with support from PKE groups abroad in the guise of Kaum Vaste Kaum according to NIA.
PKEs has started identifying and executing killings in the garb of Kaum De Dushman (enemies of religion) However, the biggest problem PKEs faced was that the new foot soldiers who were ready to execute killings on the directions of the terrorists based abroad didn’t have logistic support and experience such as supply of weapons, training, vehicles and shelter, reveals a detailed probe.
To overcome this, slain Pakistan based terrorist Harmeet Singh PhD the self-styled chief of the Khalistani Liberation Force (KLF) was contacted by the dreaded Dharminder Singh aka Gugni, lodged in Ludhiana Jail to provide weapons for the causse of religion. He provided weapons to Harmeet and Ramandeep Singh who started targeted killings of people like Vice-President Brig Jagdish Gaganeja, Durga Das Gupta, Amit Sharma, RSS leader Ravinder Gosain and followers of the Dera Saccha Sauda.
The terrorist gangster nexus further led to the Nabha High Security Jailbreak in November 2016. “The jailbreak was as successful manifestation of terrorist gangster association which led to the escape of two dreaded terrorists Harminder Singh aka Mintoo, the chief of KLF and Kashmir Singh Galwaddi and four gangsters Vicky Gounder, Gurpreet Singh Sekhon, Kulpreet Singh Neeta and Amandeep Singh, the agency observed.
During the jailbreak, 15 other gangsters managed to flee. The mastermind being gangster turned terrorist Ramadeep Singh, presently detained in Hong Kong and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is the head of the Sikhs for Justice. “The planning, execution as well as the logistics displayed by these gangsters during the Jailbreak appealed to the terrorist organisations who subsequently utilised them to carry out agenda of creating disturbance in Punjab and other parts of the country.
Later, Pakistan’s ISI roped in notorious gangsters turned terrorists Harwinder Singh (Rinda) in Pakistan, Lakhbir Singh (Landa), Arshdeep (Arsh Dalla), both based in Canada for using their criminal network for planning and carrying out targeted killings in Delhi, Punjab and other parts of the country. Pakistan based Harvinder Singh began employing Bishnoi shooters for carrying out assassinations and attacks on security establishments.
The targets were decided by Harvinder and were conveyed to gangsters lodged in jail or outside, who assigned them to different shooters. Bishnoi’s gang was responsible for an attack on intelligence headquarters of Punjab Police, Mohali, with RPG.
The investigation by NIA has established that members of the syndicates were conspiring with Arsh Dala, a designated individual terrorist, who is associated with the slain Hardeep Singh Nijjar, former chief of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). Nijjar’s death in 2023 had sparked diplomatic tension between India and Canada.
Investigation has also established that the key conspirators run a well-organized extortion network. KTF was floated by Jagtar Singh Tara, Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) Tara was involved in the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh. After his arrest in 2015, Nijjar became the chief of KTF.
Arsh Dala was a small-time gangster in Punjab who fled to Canada in 2018 and joined hands with Nijjar to carry out targeted killings and extortion using his gangs in Punjab and elsewhere. Around 46 FIRs have been registered against Dala in various states while he is wanted in three cases of NIA under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA)
During the probe, NIA found that several of these gangsters have fled abroad to avoid legal proceedings against them. Once they are outside India, they get associated with various terrorist networks and use their existing network in India to carry out terror activities and extortion.
Like Dala, Manpreet Singh and Vikram Singh were based in the Philippines while Gurjant Singh is based in Australia. Many of them are in touch with Khalistani sympathisers and militants based in Pakistan through encrypted chat such as WhatsApp, Facebook messenger. Small-time criminals and drug addicts are found to be easy recruits for these foreign based handlers.
“These India recruits are generally not known to each other and are paid through either hawala or dead drop mechanism or money transfers. Even if they are caught in India, the real conspirator remains at large,” according to NIA. The NIA found that Philippines-based mobile numbers were used by gangsters outside the Philippines for making calls to threaten victims to pay extortion money.
In several cases, the Philippines-based gangsters have received terror funds in their bank accounts or other persons in the Philippines which were further transferred through Western Union to their associates’ accounts in India. Out of fear, very few matters were reported by the victims of extortion to the law enforcement agencies (LEAs). In 2023, Manpreet Singh was deported from the Philippines.
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