Explained: The gangs of Punjab, their increasing criminal footprint

What recent criminal acts have been linked to these gangs?

Punjab Police have said that Lakhbir Singh Landa, a Punjab gangster settled in Canada, orchestrated the May 9 attack on its Intelligence Wing headquarters in Mohali.

An associate of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, Goldy Brar, has claimed responsibility for the brutal murder of Moosewala.

According to the police, Canada-based Snover Dhillon plotted the recent murder of kabbadi player Sandeep Nangal Ambian.

Ambian was murdered in Nakodar during an ongoing kabbadi match in March this year.

Later, both Bhagwanpuria and Bambiha gangs claimed responsibility for the killing.

An AGTF official told The Indian Express that Dhillon was linked to the Bambiha gang led by Gaurav Patial aka Lucky. Police believe that several gangs, active in Punjab and controlled by Punjabis in Canada, have high stakes in kabbadi tournaments in the state.

Which are the prominent gangs active in Punjab?

The gang of Lawrence Bishnoi, who is lodged in Tihar jail, is among the most active in the state. The Bishnoi gang, which also operates in Delhi and Rajasthan, is known to be involved in extortion and trade of illegal arms.

Bishnoi, son of a well-off agriculturist from an Abohar village and a former student leader of Panjab University, was arrested in 2018 from Bengaluru. After Moosewala’s murder, Punjab Police now plan to question Bishnoi over his alleged role in the crime.

Bambiha gang, named after dead gangster Davinder Bambiha who was killed in a police encounter in 2016, also has a significant footprint in the state’s Malwa region. The gang is currently led by Armenia-based Gaurav Patial, whose aide Sukhpreet Singh Buddha was deported from Armenia and arrested by the Punjab Police in November 2019.

In Majha region of Punjab, a gang led by Jaggu Bhagwanpuria is in operation. The gang is involved in arms, drug trade and extortion. Bhagwanpuria faces several criminal cases and is currently lodged inside the Tihar jail.

What is the state government doing about it?

The AAP government in Punjab recently renamed the Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU) of the state police as the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF). During the previous Amarinder Singh government, the OCCU had neutralised several gangsters, including a notorious criminal Vicky Gounder.

A senior Punjab Police officer said that at present there is “a dangerous cocktail in operation with gangsters, terror operatives and drug smugglers joining hands”.

Punjab DGP Viresh Kumar Bhawra, after the RPG attack on the police’s intelligence headquarters in Mohali, had attributed the attack to an “axis of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and gangsters with the backing of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)”.