NIA arrests key associate of Lawrence Bishnoi in terror-gangster conspiracy case

New Delhi, June 21 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a key associate of notorious jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi for his involvement in harbouring members of the Lawrence Bishnoi terror syndicate.

The members were involved in various criminal cases, including the rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on the intelligence headquarters of Punjab Police in Mohali.

The accused, identified as Vikas Singh, a resident of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, had harboured Deepak Surakhpur and Divyanshu, residents of Faizabad, who executed the RPG attack on Punjab Police's intelligence headquarters in Mohali in May 2022.

"Vikas revealed that he had given shelter to Deepak Surakhpur and Divyanshu in his house in village Devgarh, Janpad Ayodhya, and his flat in A Block, Gomti Nagar Vistar, Lucknow, UP, multiple times. Vikas was involved in 10 criminal cases for offences including murder, attempted murder, arms Act, and gangster Act," said an official.

NIA investigations revealed that Deepak Surakhpur was introduced to Vikas by Vicky Midhukhera, another associate and friend of Bishnoi. Vikas had connected Divyanshu, who was already known to him, to the Bishnoi syndicate.

The duo was also involved in numerous targeted contract killings, including those of businessman Sanjay Biyani in Nanded and gangster Rana Kandhowalia in Punjab. Vikas also harboured another accused named Rinku after Rana Kandowalia's murder.

"Furthermore, at the beginning of 2020, after a double murder case in Chandigarh (on the direction of Lawrence), Monu Dagar, Pradhan, residents of Bahadurgarh, Cheema, resident of Chandigarh, and Rajan, resident of Kurukshetra, were in Lucknow with Vikas Singh. The investigation has also revealed that many gangsters from other states like Rinku, Rajpal (MP), and Bhati (MP) were also harboured by Vikas," said the official.

The present case relates to the terrorist-gangster conspiracy hatched by members of the Bishnoi syndicates based in India and abroad to raise funds and recruit youth to carry out terrorist acts in Delhi and other parts of the country. The investigations so far have shown that the conspiracy was hatched in jails of different states and was being executed by an organised network of operatives based abroad.

"The NIA has already established the involvement of the terror syndicate in several sensational terror cases, including the targeted killing of Pradeep Kumar, a Dera Sacha Sauda follower in 2022, and the killing of gangster Raju Theth in Sikar, Rajasthan, besides the sensational killing of famous Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala and the RPG attack in Punjab in May 2022," said the official.

The NIA has arrested 15 accused to date and has charged 14 accused, including Lawrence Bishnoi, in the terror-gangster conspiracy case.

The NIA filed the charge sheet in the instant case on March 24, 2023, under various sections of the IPC, UA(P) Act, and arms Act.

Further investigation into the matter is underway.