Lawrence Bishnoi’s change of heart: Once afraid of Punjab Police, gangster now has no objection to return to their custody

Recently, Lawrence Bishnoi was transferred from Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Central Jail to Delhi’s Mandoli Jail last month. The gangster was taken to Gujarat by the state’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in connection with a case of cross-border drug smuggling.

The Mandoli jail administration has appealed to a Delhi court on Sunday to shift Bishnoi to Bathinda jail in order to avert any threats to the law and order situation in the Delhi prison. The court has agreed to the request, pending the completion of his police remand in Delhi.

This development comes exactly 11 months after both Punjab police and Lawrence Bishnoi clashed over where Bishnoi would be kept or investigated.

In June 2022, during the custody battle of Bishnoi from Delhi jail to Punjab police in Sidhu Moosewala’s murder case, Advocate Vishal Chopra opposed the Punjab police’s application for Bishnoi’s remand, citing a threat to the accused’s life and the possibility of being prevented from being taken to Punjab. He alleged that the accused might be killed in a fake encounter by Punjab Police.

Now, Chopra, Bishnoi’s lawyer and defense counsel in the Moosewala murder case, while talking to The Indian Express, stated, “We had opposed the move of Punjab police to bring back Lawrence Bishnoi before the murder of Sidhu Moosewala and also immediately after the murder of Sidhu Moosewala in the Supreme Court of India. At that time, we had apprehensions that his life could be in danger in Punjab. We feared an encounter. But now we have observed that he has faced no such issues in the custody of Punjab police and while remaining in Punjab jail. So now we have no objection to shifting Lawrance Bishnoi into Punjab jails.”

Last year, Lawrence Bishnoi’s father had even approached the Supreme Court against his son’s custody by the Punjab police in the Sidhu Moosewala murder case. Punjab police contested the petitions in court and argued in its reply filed on July 14, 2022, stating, “Because the conduct of the son of the Petitioner is outrageous and evasive as during his confinement in Central Jail Bharatpur Rajasthan in 2020 and his subsequent arrest by the New Delhi Police and confinement in Tihar Jail, New Delhi, he had never expressed his misconceived apprehension of death/encounter in police custody. But surprisingly, whenever Lawrence Bishnoi is nominated in Punjab, Haryana, or UT Chandigarh, a frivolous petition is filed by him in different Hon’ble Courts in order to evade the process of law and investigation, due to which many cases against him are pending till today, in which he is yet to join the investigation.”

The Punjab police argued in the Supreme Court that Lawrence Bishnoi has more than 67 cases across India, out of which he has been convicted in 4 cases in the State of Punjab. “He is a dreaded gangster who has been in jail since 2015 and continuously spreads his network with other hardened criminals who are either absconding or confined in jails across the country. It is important to state here that Lawrence left the custody of Punjab Police with Rajasthan
Police on 01.04.2018 in some FIR, and while in jail, he committed serious crimes through his associates in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Rajasthan & New Delhi. He has been booked by the States of Punjab, Haryana, UT Chandigarh, and NCR Delhi for many serious and heinous offenses like extortion, murders, procurement of sophisticated arms and ammunition, contract killing, etc,” said Punjab police in court.

Around a year after this argument, Lawrence Bishnoi appeared on a national TV channel and made sensational allegations against the deceased singer, while claiming to be a nationalist. The interview, where Bishnoi justified Moosewala’s murder and claimed to be a nationalist, was allegedly arranged from Punjab jail.

Bishnoi was shifted out of Punjab Jail on January 2, 2020, and was brought back to Punjab jails only after the murder of Sidhu Moosewala. He has remained on remand with NIA, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Delhi police during last one year and is now awaiting to be sent back to Punjab.

A resident of Fazilka in Punjab, Bishnoi has been in jail since 2014 after he was arrested during an encounter with the Rajasthan Police. He was shifted to Delhi’s Tihar jail last year but was arrested by the Punjab Police on June 14 in connection with the sensational murder of Moosewala on May 29.