Extortion, smuggling, terror: Bishnoi’s men and Canada-based Khalistanis

Not very long after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over its first case against gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, a senior police officer from a state’s anti-terror squad turned up at the agency’s headquarters in the national capital.

He offered his opinion to the agency brass that Bishnoi seemed to be a deshbhakt (nationalist).

The NIA brass, however, took the opinion with a pinch of salt and went on to file its first chargesheet against Bishnoi and his associates under the stringent anti-terror legal framework, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which is invoked only in terror-related cases.

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This account is based on conversations with a few police officials who know what happened behind closed doors in the agency at that point in time. All of them spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of discussions.

Terror-smuggler-gangster nexus

There was a lot of debate within the NIA as to whether it would be a legally prudent step to invoke the UAPA on Bishnoi and gang members.

Many lawyers — from outside the agency — were consulted, and the opinion wasn’t overwhelmingly in favour of UAPA being invoked against gangsters. But the NIA brass wasn’t ready to ignore the evidence it had gathered against Bishnoi and his associates.

The agency concluded in its probe that terror operatives had developed an active nexus with drug smugglers and the criminal syndicate led by Lawrence Bishnoi. And they all had been found to be involved in terror or criminal acts, including extortions from businessmen, professionals or doctors.

“(It) had led to a scare and fear among the public at large,” the NIA stated in one of its press statements following the initiation of its probe against Bishnoi in 2022.

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Full support of Amit Shah

The agency brass was convinced that invoking the UAPA was the step in the right direction, and it decided to formally charge Lawrence, his brothers Sachin and Anmol Bishnoi, and associates such as Goldy Brar, Kala Jathedi, Kala Rana, Bikram Brar, and Sampat Nehra under the anti-terror law.

After the first chargesheet, the agency filed two more supplementary chargesheets against these gangsters, who were operating along with terrorists.

“We had the full support of Union Home Minister Amit Shah who, too, wanted a stringent action against these gangsters,” added the official.

Three incidents of collaboration

The agency formally told the court that Lawrence and his 12 associates, such as the Canada-based Goldy Brar, had links with the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and several other pro-Khalistani terrorist outfits.

The agency named three specific incidents of collaboration between the Canada-based Khalistani extremists and Lawrence and his associates.

The first was the killing of Dera Sacha Sauda (the sect is facing violent opposition from extremists) follower Pradeep Kumar in Faridkot in November 2022, in which Goldy Brar was involved.

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The second was the rocket attack on the Punjab State Intelligence headquarters in Mohali, which was allegedly carried out at the directions of Harwinder Singh alias Rinda, a Pakistan-based BKI terrorist.

Further links

Investigation also indicated that Goldy Brar had direct links with Lakhbir Singh alias Landa, another BKI operative based in Canada.

Landa was also involved in the rocket attack on a police station in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district in December 2022. Both Rinda and Landa worked together from Pakistan and Canada with active cooperation of gangsters such as Goldy Brar and Lawrence Bishnoi.

“Landa is from Harike village in Tarn Taran district and he is basically an extortionist," a Punjab police official who probed them for very long in many cases told The Federal.

"Prominent people in Tarn Taran keep getting threat calls from him. Money is his main motivation, not religion. Gangsters such as Lawrence or Goldy Brar, too, have a similar motivation."

Canada’s double standards

Following their probe, the agency knocked on the doors of Canada to seek access to Landa and Goldy Brar and others such as Arsh Dala, who were terrorising people in Punjab.

“A list of around 40 criminals and terrorists was handed over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police through diplomatic channels but nothing came of it. Our pleas fell on deaf ears. The Canadians were not willing to work on this at all,” a former NIA official told The Federal.

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The official added that the agency’s evidence showed how Canada had turned a blind eye to the activities of Lawrence Bishnoi’s associates such as Goldy Brar.

'Look who's talking'

“It is laughable when Canada points fingers at us on the issue of alleged killings carried out by gangsters. We have been seeking these gangsters from Canada for a very long time. Due to local political and electoral compulsions, Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, panders to extremist elements in the Canadian Sikh community,” the former NIA official added.

“Had the Canadians been serious about dealing with violence there, they should have acted on our pleas and sent back these gangsters to face the law in India.

"We have charged Lawrence Bishnoi and his associates under anti-terror laws but Canada has taken no action against these elements who openly plot extortion and terror attacks back home in Punjab,” the official added.