Lawrence Bishnoi: The New Don

POLICE OFFICERS AND INTELLIGENCE AGENTS who closely watch the convent-educated underworld don Lawrence Bishnoi assert that the 31-year-old runs his crime enterprise like a corporation because he believes it helps build team skills and motivate his men as his network expands to new geographies through partnerships.

It is not difficult to see why. The Netflix mini-documentary series How to Become a Mob Boss offers insights into what goes on inside the minds of criminal dons, including Al Capone and Pablo Escobar. A valuable takeaway from this series is that crime syndicates emphasise the value of hierarchy, public relations (PR), and diversified portfolios as much as corporations do—or maybe more.

For his part, Bishnoi, who is at the heart of a diplomatic row between India and Canada over the killing of Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June last year, is the apex predator, wielding absolute power within his network, but has professionalised the operations. Ottawa says Nijjar was eliminated on Canadian soil on the orders of the jailed Indian gangster. The Canadian police have repeatedly accused Bishnoi of colluding with Indian agencies to target advocates of Khalistan who reside in the North American country. New Delhi has rubbished the charges.

PR is crucial, and Bishnoi expends a lot of energy on it. It is true that even as gangsters are hated for the blood they spill on the streets, they end up being celebrities regardless. Legions of Hollywood movies from The Godfather to OTT series like Narcos and Indian flicks like Company, Satya, Vaastav, and Nayakan are proof that criminals unlocking their satanic po­tential at an early age and chasing easy money also attract sympathy and praise alongside fear and disgust. And yet it is important to be seen as making the right noises that find echoes in the media. The way his men zealously use social media to drive home his messages—often in cold blood—leaves no doubt about the young don’s priorities.

As with the case of successful conglomerations, crime empires too have a CEO of sorts whose success hinges on how best he or she beats the system. Most underworld bosses have the smarts to see what comes next in slow motion and prepare their countermoves.

The suave gangster—now being held in Gujarat’s Sabarmati jail—has followed the mafia playbook to the hilt in order to build a vast network of operatives from scratch. We will come to his initiatives at building a diversified portfolio akin to businesses later.

Born to a police officer father from a landlord family and a pious mother in Punjab’s Firoz­pur district, Bishnoi was a promising student. He had a privileged childhood since the family owned more than 100 acres of land and a bungalow. Bishnoi’s life took a turn for the worse after he joined DAV College in Chandigarh in his home state for his Bachelor’s. Although the college boasts sport luminaries like Kapil Dev, Yuvraj Singh, Jeev Milkha Singh, and several oth­ers among its alumni, it is notorious for its violent student politics and for being a breeding ground for politicos. While many become politicians, Bishnoi found student politics of the early 2010s as the gate­way to the world of crime.

He has a strange name for a person belonging to the Bishnoi community. It was his mother Sunita who gave him his first name Lawrence, thanks to his pale skin—also the reason why his friends call him ‘Milky’. She renamed him after educationist and administra­tor Henry Lawrence, a member of the first board of administra­tion of Punjab when the British annexed it in 1849. Lawrence’s earlier name was Balkaran Bishnoi. She and her husband Lavinder had big dreams for their son; but the son had other plans.

AVENGING THE FALLEN

CAUGHT UP IN THE VORTEX OF STUDENT POLITICS while he was at Panjab University where he pursued a course in law after his stint at DAV College, Bishnoi was pitched as presidential candidate of the Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU).

His teachers there recall him as a quarrelsome student; some of them even remember that his roll number was 1800.

Bishnoi, initially under the spell of young politician Vicky Middukhera in the early 2010s, found himself veering to­wards the camp of gangsters such as Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and Rocky Fazilka for self-preservation in the face of campus violence. Even after he left the university, as though possessed, he fielded his candidates for student elections. The clashes that ensued meant Bishnoi found himself accused in about three dozen cases in Chandigarh and elsewhere in Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan.

Hostilities from the university continued to fester while Bishnoi kept his friends from the period close, including Middukhera. Police sources say that Bishnoi, an ardent Hanuman devotee who occasionally observes the vow of si­lence, takes even a slight against his friends and associates as an affront to his authority. It was the tensions from his college days that pitched him against the late Davinder Bambiha, a resident of Bambiha village in Punjab’s Moga district, under whose name a rival gang continues to operate. Bambiha was killed in a police en­counter in Bathinda in September 2016 following which Gaurav, alias Lucky Patial, is at the helm of the gang.

What happened over the years was like a rollercoaster ride of blood-soaked murders and visceral vendetta: clashes with the Bambiha group led to several deaths over the past decade and in the 2020s. In 2017, Lavi Deora of the Bambiha group was re­portedly bumped off by Bishnoi’s team members in Faridkot. Three years later they hit back, killing Gurlal Brar, an associate of Bishnoi and brother of his close friend Goldy Brar, in Chan­digarh. The Bambiha gang continued to strike, shooting dead Vicky Middukhera in Mohali in 2021.

Retaliations never stopped. In 2023, a team of shooters— said to have been dispatched by the Bishnoi group—killed Sukha Duneke in his home in Winnipeg, Canada, after reportedly reminding the latter of Gurlal Brar’s killing.

Other brutal murders continued hogging newspaper headlines as the rival gangs went on a rampage, with the Bishnoi gang eventually gaining the upper hand. As early as May 2023, Sunil Baliyan, better known as Tillu Tajpuria, was murdered in­side Tihar Jail by four inmates who were allegedly members of the Bishnoi gang. Tajpuria was brutally stabbed over 100 times in the courtyard of Jail No 8 in Tihar before he died—it was revenge for the September 2021 murder of Jitender Maan alias Gogi inside a courtroom in Rohini.

INORGANIC GROWTH

ACCORDING TO PEOPLE CLOSE TO THE MATTER, Bishnoi’s rise as a heavyweight in the conspiratorial sweepstakes of India’s underworld is thanks to a raft of reasons. These include his discipline, his skills in aligning with groups that need support, his sense of timing, and his resolve to never let go of an oppor­tunity to grow. According to Bishnoi watchers, these attributes make him the equivalent of a corporate raider and an M&A evan­gelist rolled into one in the world of crime where he has jockeyed his way by pitting rivals against each other and then stitching up deals with the needy. These activities offer a glimpse into his capabilities at consolidating and then diversifying his empire.

Bishnoi now has over 700 sharpshooters on his roster and several thousands of trained hands on standby to accomplish missions worldwide, stretching across China, Thailand, the Philippines, Central Asia, the UAE, parts of Europe, and North America. He achieved this by engineering an inorganic growth for his syndicate by collaborating with whoever could be tapped to extend his influence. For instance, in Rajasthan, Bishnoi saw an opportunity after gangster Anand Pal Singh was killed in a police encounter in Sikar in 2017. When Bishnoi went calling, Anand Pal gang members joined him, and five years later their rival Raju Theth was gunned down at the gate of his house in Si­kar. Following this killing, Rohit Godara, part of the Bishnoi gang, claimed responsibility for Theth’s death.

Bishnoi also aligned soon with Anand Pal’s former partner Anuradha Chaudhary, aka ‘Madam Minz’, at a time she required backing. ‘Madam Minz’, known in Rajasthan as ‘Revolver Rani’, is married to jailed Bishnoi associate Sandeep, alias Kala Jatheri. She is a suspect in Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala’s killing in May 2022.

Sustaining partnerships isn’t easy. “He [Bishnoi] delegates work and allows his workers full autonomy. He is not greedy about money. That makes him a good boss for his criminal part­ners,” says a police officer who analyses the Bishnoi gang’s activi­ties. “The free hand he gives his team is a win-win situation for both Bishnoi and his supporters,” he adds.

Bishnoi, for whom optics are key, spread his wings in Delhi first through Gogi. This was why his death particularly affected him, and he swore revenge. According to an official, Tajpuria’s brutal murder was meticulously planned as a revenge killing. First, the rival gangster had to be transferred from elsewhere to Tihar, and then Bishnoi’s men had to be placed in Tihar to make the plot a success. The men tasked with killing Tajpuria were Riyaz Khan alias Riyaz alias Gainda alias Sonu; Deepak Singh alias Tittar; Yogesh Singh alias Babu; and Anil Singh alias Phool Singh, who are all said to be Bishnoi men.

Bishnoi, who has been in jail for more than 10 years now, has been relentless at striking deals with the enemies of his enemies.

Delhi, the national capital, was home to a constellation of gangsters operating mostly on local turfs. Bishnoi rose in the scheme of things after cobbling ties with the likes of Hashim Baba, the dreaded northeast Delhi gangster, around 2021 while in Tihar. This resulted in what police call a bipolar contest for supremacy between Bishnoi and his team on one side and Neeraj Bawana and Himanshu Bhau and the likes on the other. Meanwhile, Bishnoi also had on his side Deepak Boxer, who got his name because of his boxing credentials. Incidentally, Hashim Baba acquired his name due to his hairstyle and demean­our that resembled Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt.

It was the entry of Bishnoi that altered the crime landscape of Delhi beyond recognition, just as it did in Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana. His rise resulted in the realignment and consolida­tion of forces among the rival camp, especially in Delhi. Other allegations against Bishnoi include the killing of Moose Wala in Mansa (Bishnoi was at the time in Tihar; his overseas associate Goldy Brar claimed responsibility for the murder); Sukha Duneke, a Khalistani separatist, in Canada; and Karni Sena chief Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi in 2023 in Jaipur (Rohit Godara, a gang member, claimed responsibility). Meanwhile, police sources say Moose Wala incurred Bishnoi’s wrath by penning a song in praise of his rival gang (‘Bambiha Bole’, 2020) along with Amrit Maan, another Punjabi singer.

THE VICIOUS CYCLE

AMONG THE THREATS BY THE BISHNOI SYNDICATE, nothing has been as sensational as the one against Salman Khan over the blackbuck hunting case of 1998. The Bishnoi community considers the blackbuck (Indian antelope) sacred. Police sources say that for Bishnoi, it was initially an attempt at PR. Crime bosses need to be seen as respected as well as feared. This was why, they say, his man Sampath Nehra tried to attack Khan around 2018. Soon, the media began talking about the ruthlessness of the don in question. But things turned serious after the death of a Bishnoi man, 32-year-old Anuj Thapan who was caught by Mumbai Police on charges of shooting outside Khan’s home this year.

Bishnoi and his men believe that Thapan was tortured to death by the state police to ‘appease’ Khan. They reject the official ver­sion that Thapan tried to end his life inside the lock-up of Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch.

Others on Bishnoi’s purported hit list, according to sourc­es, include Shaganpreet Singh, Moose Wala’s manager who Bishnoi assumes provided shelter to the killers of Vicky Middukhera, Bishnoi’s mentor. The Bishnoi gang has, ac­cording to a post from its own member, bumped off some people on the list, including Mandeep Dhariwal, who was an aide to Gaurav Padial alias Lucky Padial, chief of the Bambiha gang. Dhariwal was shot dead in the Philippines, and Goldy Brar claimed responsibility. Among the others Bishnoi considers inimical to his interests is Kaushal Chaudhary, who is currently languishing in a Gurugram jail. He reportedly supplied weapons to the killers of Middukhera. The Bishnoi gang is also known to be zooming in on Amit Dagar who was implicated in the murder of Middukhera. What makes his enemies nervous is the reach of Bishnoi’s net­work—many internal security experts say it is comparable to that of Dawood Ibrahim’s at his peak. According to sources, each Bishnoi team within the group comprises 20-25 people and he has thou­sands operating in India alone, across 11 states.

Police officers who spoke to Open say that Bishnoi and his men typically target people in the music industry, YouTubers, Kabaddi organisers, and so on, for extortion and kidnapping. They also keep an eye on illegal betting syndicates, unscrupulous builders, shady businesses like fake call centres, and hawala networks, and demand a cut. “Most of them have no reasons to go to the police since they themselves con people,” an officer notes, adding that Bishnoi is a devout person who takes part in most religious rituals and wakes up early to exercise and stay in shape.

What endears Bishnoi to his potential allies and even police­men is his knack for observing them and figuring out their dif­ficulties or vulnerabilities. He also has a penchant for timing his offers of help, irresistible as they often are. For instance, he would overhear policemen in distress discussing their domestic woes, only to come up with a concrete proposal of support shortly. He employs similar tactics with his loyalists in the crime world too, police officers point out. Bishnoi communicates effortlessly in Hindi as well as English.

Just as he is generous, Bishnoi also remembers each insult. He has an innate ability to read gestures and composure, as if by force of habit. If a policeman or an inmate frowns at him, Bishnoi remembers it, says a police officer who adds that the young don likes to dress up and appear dapper in luxury wear and accesso­ries. “He splurges money on brands. He has special brands flown down from exclusive stores abroad because he always wants to look well-turned-out and smart,” the officer says.

CANADA’S QUIBBLES

THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT HAS LASHED OUT AT Bishnoi and his men for wreaking havoc in their country, especial­ly by targeting for assassination members of Sikh militant groups considered dangerous by India. Ironically, Bishnoi, who had had good links with such groups in the past, had the option of joining hands with those who championed the Khalistan cause—the highlight of which was the November 27, 2016 jailbreak in Nabha prison in Punjab’s Patiala district when a group of gangsters mas­querading as policemen opened fire at security guards and freed four gangsters and two terrorists. According to officials based in Delhi, that incident marked the revival of the Khalistan demand in India after it had faded out following the height of militancy in Punjab in the late 1980s.

However, these officials aver that Bishnoi chose not to collabo­rate with the separatists.

The Canadians have repeatedly stepped up the rhetoric. The Canadian police have stated that the Bishnoi-Goldy Brar gang was connected to the “agents of the government of India”. They said in a statement, “It [India] is targeting the South Asian commu­nity but they are specifically targeting pro-Khalistani elements in Canada… It has been publicly attributed and claimed by one organised crime group in particular—Bishnoi group…”

Indian officers tell Open that Bishnoi and his team are adept at ‘clean’ crimes, which has made furnishing evidence against them cumbersome for investigators. Both in India and abroad, their actions are mostly untraceable because of the expertise with which the crimes are committed and the secrecy involved. “It is often a clean job,” a policeman said, suggesting that Canada may find offering proof of the group’s alleged activities on their soil difficult. “Even if they do something somewhere, they do it with extreme caution to lead investigators astray,” says a police officer.

What further aggravates the situation is the nature of Sikh politics in Canada, which has got murkier since the killing of Ripudaman Singh Malik, a Sikh activist acquitted in the 1985 Air India Flight 182 (Kanishka) terror bombing, on July 15, 2022 in Surrey. It is speculated that Nijjar’s assassination was retaliation for Malik’s killing. Malik had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi praising the steps New Delhi had taken for the Sikh community on his watch: “I am writing to you to express my heartfelt gratitude for the unprecedented positive steps taken by yourself to redress… Sikh demands and grievances including elimination of blacklists that restricted visit to India of thousands of Sikhs living abroad, grant of passports and visas to asylees and their families, reopening of hundreds of 1984 riots cases leading to conviction and jail term…”

As of now, apart from raising a stink, the Canadians have not been able to link Bishnoi and his men to the alleged crimes in their country. This means it is a PR victory for the 21st-century Indian don. Much to the anguish of all of those who disapprove of glorifying violence and brutality, the mystique around Bishnoi only seems to grow.

global criminal networkKhalistani activistHardeep Singh NijjarIndia-Canada relationshipJustin TrudeauLawrence BishnoiSachin Bishnoi. Sidhu Moose WalaSalman KhanThe New Don