Sidhu Moosewala murder: The common thread that binds Lawrence Bishnoi and Vicky Middukhera

A closer look at both the cases show that a student organisation — Students’ Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) — is the common link between Lawrence Bishnoi and Vicky Middukhera. Middhukhera had left the SOPU in 2014 and joined the Student Organisation of India (SOI), which is affiliated to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Bishnoi is still the face of SOPU.

At least three aides of Bishnoi — Sampat Nehra, Ankit Bhadu and Gurlal Brar — have been the poster boys for SOPU for a long time. Ankit Bhadu was killed in a police encounter at Mohali in May, 2019, Gurlal Brar was gunned down by a rival group in October, 2020, in Chandigarh and Smapat Nehra was arrested by the police in Bengaluru when he was planning to kill Bollywood superstar Salman Khan for allegedly killing a blackbuck.

At present, there is no existence of SOPU in PU. Saurabh Parashar takes a closer look at SOPU and how it evolved over the years:

When was SOPU formed?
SOPU was formed way back in 1996 for countering the growing influence of a strong student organization called Punjab University Student Union (PUSU). The PUSU was formed in 1977 and it contested the student body elections in PU in 1978. SOPU’s founder members were largely from the law department of the university. One of its founder members, Dayal Pratap Singh Randhawa, was elected the President of Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC), twice. Randhawa at present is a practicing advocate in Punjab and Haryana High Court. Other founder members of the organisation include SS Chattrath, PPS Brar, HS Bhullar, KPS Sidhu, among others.

Performance of SOPU in the student politics
In 1997 and 1998, SOPU had won the PU student bodies elections on campus for the first time. Over the years, the influence of SOPU grew and the party spread to other affiliated colleges of Panjab University (PU).

In 2012-13, SOPU had formed an alliance with two other student unions — HSA, NSO — to make its last visible impact in students politics, with the organisation’s joint candidate Satinder Singh Satti being elected the president of PUCSC.

“Those were the days when there was no political backing for student associations. They didn’t have any direct link with mainstream political parties. In the years that followed, student outfits of other political parties — like National Student Union of India (NSUI) backed by the Indian National Congress (INC), Student Organisation of India (SOI) backed by Youth Akali Dal (YAD), and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) back by the BJP arrived on campus, leading to SOPU’s downfall. To date, PUSU is the oldest political outfit surviving in the campus,” a political professor said.

An argument between PU authorities and the students. (Express file photo)

The entry of Lawrence Bishnoi, Sampat Nehra and others in SOPU
As many prominent student leaders, who were once part of SOPU, started switching parties to join student unions backed by the national and regional political parties, SOPU slipped into the hands of a few immature leaders. A few leaders, who had left SOPU, still wanted to maintain their hold on the organisation and planted their proxies in the organisation. Lawrence Bishnoi, who was then a student of DAV College, Sector 10, joined SOPU in 2010. At the same time, Sampat Nehra, who was then a student in Sri Guru Gobind Singh College (SGGSC), Sector 26, too had joined SOPU. The duo soon became the poster boys of the organisation, before foraying into the world of organised crime, graduating from petty brawls of student politics. Even Ankit Bhadu, a dreaded sharpshooter gunned down by Punjab police in Mohali in February, 2019, had been once shown as a poster boy of SOPU.

Efforts to establish SOPU in Rajasthan
In 2018, SOPU leaders and supporters had made a spirited attempt to enter the arena of student politics in Rajasthan, especially in the educational institutes of Sri Ganganagar. In May 2018, members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang eliminated a rival gangster, vinod Sheron alias Jordan, inside a gym at Sri Ganganagar. However that killing failed to have the kind of impact that the gang thought it would in Rajasthan and they were forced to shift their focus back on Chandigarh.

Founder member speaks
One of the founder members, Advocate Dayal Pratap Singh Randhawa, said, “We left the campus around one decade age. We have no idea where SOPU stands in student politics at present. The direct interference of main political parties in student politics led to the downfall of SOPU. But at the same time, we cannot blame the entire institute. SOPU is also like an institute, which had played a pivotal role in constructive student politics. It will evolve from its dark days.”