ISI creating ‘inter-changeable network’ of gangsters, drug smugglers, terrorists: Punjab Police

According to Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav, those arrested were identified as Akshay Delu and Ankit Bishnoi alias Kakkar, both residents of village Khairpur in Abohar, Fazilka. The arrested accused were operating on the instructions of their foreign-based handlers identified as Anmol Bishnoi and Arzoo Bishnoi.

Arzoo Bishnoi is the same US-based gangster who is wanted in the murder of a well known businessman in Abohar in Punjab on July 7. In this instance too, three members of Lawrence Bishnoi gang were arrested by Punjab Police from Rajasthan.

DGP Yadav said that preliminary investigation revealed that they fled to Nepal after committing the murder and returned on directions of their foreign-based handlers to commit a sensational crime in Punjab.

Just days before this breakthrough, Punjab Police and Rajasthan Police conducted a joint operation and busted an ISI-sponsored terror network operated by Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Lawrence Bishnoi gang through foreign-based handlers Mannu Agwan, Gopi Nawashahria and Zeeshan Akhtar on the directions of Pakistan-based Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) operative Harwinder Rinda.

According to Rajasthan’s Additional Director General of Police (Crime Branch) Dinesh MN, the suspects have been identified as Jitendra Chaudhary from Tonk, Sanjay from Hanumangarh, and Sonu alias Kali from Kapurthala, Punjab. Three minors from Uttar Pradesh, Niwai, and Punjab were also apprehended. They were apprehended last week in Jaipur and Tonk districts and subsequently transferred to the Special Operation Cell of Punjab Police in Amritsar. The accused were wanted in connection with a July 7 blast in Nawanshahr, Punjab.

ADG Dinesh said the gang had lobbed a grenade at a liquor shop in Nawanshahr and then fled to Rajasthan. Following this, the Punjab Police lodged a case under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) sections 49 (abetment outside India for offence in India), 55 (abetment of offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life), 61 (2) (Criminal conspiracy) as well as sections of the Arms Act.

“Upon interrogation, it was found that they were associated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and that their handler goes by the name of one Zeeshan Akhtar, who lives in Canada and had claimed responsibility for the murder of NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique in Mumbai,” he said, adding that Akhtar, Pakistani gangster Shahzad Bhatti, BKI terrorist Mannu Agwan and Gopi Nawanshahria were all allegedly connected with each other.

“They carry out criminal activities in different parts of the country and contact local youth by luring them with money to commit crime. The accused in the present case were connected with Akhtar via Instagram and other online apps. Akhtar had also provided grenades to the accused for the Nawanshahr blast. He used to give instructions through online platforms and had told them to carry out blasts in Delhi and Gwalior on Independence Day,” the ADG said.

In June, the Mumbai Police had said that Akhtar had been detained in Canada. However, there has been little clarity on the case or Akhtar’s whereabouts since then.

Punjab Police officers, meanwhile, say that ISI has doubled its efforts to create unrest in Punjab after Operation Sindoor in May. They say that ISI has been trying hard to find new recruits in Punjab and goading their existing contacts to ‘do something big’

Speaking to The Indian Express, DGP Yadav said there is a continuous effort by ISI to create unrest in India using the existing terrorist nodes based in Pakistan. “One thing which we have noticed is that names of outfits have become meaningless. The labels of outfits are interchangeable and so are the people involved in criminal activities,” said Yadav.

Punjab Police investigations found that the attack on former BJP Minister Manoranjan Kalia in April was orchestrated by Germany based gangster Kulbir Sidhu but credit was claimed by BKI.

In another instance credit for an attack was taken in the name of one Ranjodh Singh of Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), but the police found that the man does not exist and the incident was put in effect by gangsters.

“Organised criminals, terrorists and big drug smugglers are operating together under ISI’s direction. The attack on a police post in Punjab was done by US-based gangster Gurjant Bholu’s network on behalf of Pakistan-based terrorists. Gangsters, terror nodes and drug smugglers are being used in an interchangeable way as if they have an alliance,” said Yadav.

These same alliances are also indulging in extortion and terror activities in Punjab, say senior police officials. “Pak based terrorist Harvinder Rinda sent voice notes on threat to land pooling authorities in Jalandhar recently when land pooling policy had been announced,” said a senior police official.