What is Lawrence Bishnoi’s suraksha kavach?

After two decades of relative calm, Mumbai is witnessing the fear of an underworld gang. The Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which has spilled blood in Punjab and Delhi, is making its presence felt in Mumbai, India’s commercial capital. After Bombay of the 90s, it was Delhi that saw gang wars spilling onto the streets. In the latest incident, on September 12, a gym owner was shot dead in the heart of South Delhi. The shooter was allegedly linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. What is a marked difference between Bombay of the 90s and today, is that the key figure, Lawrence Bishnoi, hasn’t fled abroad, but is running a well-oiled gang machine from India. To be specific, from right inside a jail.
The gang space, led by Dawood Ibrahim and his henchmen, was almost vacant after Mumbai Police’s crackdown on the underworld. Dawood fled India after the Bombay Blasts of 1993 and ran his D-Company from abroad. His last known address is Karachi in Pakistan.
Not just Dawood Ibrahim, even dons like Chhota Shakeel, Abu Salem and Chhota Rajan fled India. The entire operations of Bombay’s (now Mumbai) underworld were being run from abroad. It was only Arun Gawli who remained in India.
While the Bombay Police was able to eliminate the gang wars that had spilt on to Mumbai’s streets, the worst charge it faced was that it was unable to get the criminals back to India and tried. Though this would have involved multiple agencies and the Ministry of External Affairs too.
In the case of Delhi, the entire operation seems to be run from inside a jail by Lawrence Bishnoi. Now, the Bishnoi gang is making its presence felt in Mumbai too.
And this isn’t a case of just a month or two. Bishnoi has been in jail since 2014. This isn’t the story of one jail. Bishnoi has at least been in three different jails.
How can a dreaded criminal, charged under the stringent UAPA, operate fearlessly from jails? This brings up the biggest question — What is Lawrence Bishnoi’s ‘suraksha kavach’?
On October 12, the Lawrence Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility for NCP leader Baba Siddique’s murder. Baba Siddique was no Delhi gym owner. He was a three-time MLA, close to Maharashtra power circles and allegedly linked to the Dawood Ibrahim gang.
By their own admissions, it seems the Lawrence Bishnoi gang is behind most high-profile crime in India.
Despite being incarcerated in various Indian prisons for over a decade, Lawrence Bishnoi continues to wield influence, run his criminal network, eliminate high-profile targets from time to time, and even terrorise the occasional Bollywood superstar.
He was first jailed in 2012 in Bathinda jail and then shifted to Tihar after being charged with the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
This raises the question many would wonder: how? The Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which has claimed responsibility for several high-profile murders, including that of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala in 2022 and Baba Siddique, continues to operate while Bishnoi remains behind bars.
Despite being behind bars, his gang remains operational and unchallenged, leaving many to wonder what allows him to maintain this seemingly untouchable status.
Against this backdrop, let’s have a look at how Lawrence Bishnoi got to this point.
Lawrence Bishnoi, alias Satwinder Singh, was born in 1993, in a village in Punjab’s Ferozpur, a bordering district with Pakistan.
Bishnoi stepped into crime during his university days. He moved to Chandigarh in 2010 to attend DAV College. Later, he joined the Panjab University Campus Students Council in 2011, where he met Goldy Brar, another notorious gangster.
The association probably marked the beginning of their involvement in university politics and subsequent criminal activities.
Following his crimes on campus, Bishnoi’s criminal career accelerated rapidly.
Between 2010 and 2012, several FIRs were registered against him for crimes such as attempt to murder, trespassing, assault, and robbery, all linked to his activities in student politics.
Despite being acquitted in four out of seven cases, Bishnoi’s reputation as a tall figure in the gang circles grew. After graduating from Panjab University with an LLB degree, he expanded his criminal empire, involving himself in liquor trafficking, arms smuggling, and providing refuge to other criminals.
In the meantime, the Lawrence Bishnoi gang extorted money from the liquor mafia, Punjabi singers, and other influential people.
In a matter of few years, the gang’s footprints expanded beyond Punjab. The Lawrence Bishnoi gang has spread across North India, including Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Jharkhand.
Social media and various other means were used to recruit young people into the gang.
The Lawrence Bishnoi gang is known to operate with over 700 shooters across five states in India, with international connections as well, according to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). At least 300 shooters hail from Punjab.
The NIA chargesheet under the stringent UAPA law, which named Lawrence Bishnoi, compared his gang to Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company.
Like Dawood Ibrahim who established his network in the 90s, starting with petty crimes, then transitioning to drug trafficking, targeted killings, and extortion rackets, Lawrence Bishnoi has operated similarly, the NIA says in its chargesheet.
According to reports, Bishnoi actually organised and expanded his gang from inside prison.
Although Lawrence Bishnoi has been jailed for over a decade, he continues to communicate with his aides from within jail using Voice over IP calls and video calls. He has even given interviews to TV channels from inside jail.
Lawrence Bishnoi, who was first jailed in 2012, is now lodged in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Jail. In August 2023, he was shifted to Ahmedabad, from Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
While Lawrence Bishnoi has been confined to prison, he has issued threats and attempted on the life of Bollywood actor Salman Khan. The gang said its motivation stemmed from Khan’s involvement in the Black Buck poaching case, which is considered a sacrilegious act by the Bishnoi community.
In April, an incident of gunshots fired outside Khan’s Mumbai residence was attributed to Bishnoi’s gang.
When Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala was murdered in 2022, Goldy Brar claimed responsibility on behalf of Bishnoi, even though Bishnoi was in Tihar Jail at the time.
By 2022, Lawrence Bishnoi had been involved in 36 criminal cases over the past 12 years, with 21 sub judice, 9 acquittals, and 6 convictions, as of June 2022.
The cases are filed in Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Delhi, said a 2022 report in Chandigarh-based The Tribune.
It’s clear that Bishnoi is in jail, and he is continuing to operate despite being in jail. Bishnoi is using the strong alliances and networks he has built, including connections with pro-Khalistan groups, as revealed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
While Bishnoi uses advanced communication methods like VoIP and “Dabba Calling” to stay in touch with aides, he strategically avoids bail applications.
“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.
It is unbelievable that the undisputed leader of India’s crime scene can operate without the connivance of prison officials. It is also questionable how high up Bishnoi’s sphere of influence extends, and why? He wouldn’t have been able to run such an organised crime syndicate without patronage.
This complex web of connections and mechanisms acts as his “surksha kavach” (protective shield), allowing Lawrence Bishnoi to continue orchestrating crimes from behind bars.