‘Make list of builders in Mumbai’: Anmol Bishnoi told aide as Bishnoi gang wanted to start extortion racket
The police say the Bishnoi gang is trying to step in after underworld gangs in Mumbai have been neutralised.
3 min read
Anmol Bishnoi is currently lodged at the Pottawattamie County Jail in Iowa. (File)The Bishnoi gang’s increasing interest in establishing its dominance over Mumbai has been named as one of the motives behind the firing outside actor Salman Khan’s house and the murder of former NCP minister Baba Siddique.
The Mumbai police’s crime branch has found that Anmol Bishnoi, the younger brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, told one of the accused to get contacts of builders in the city. So far, the gang has been involved in extortion activities in north Indian states.
A senior officer said, “One of the accused told us that Anmol had asked him to gather contacts of builders whom they could threaten and ask to pay extortion money. The entire reason for them to target Salman and others was to create fear in the city which they could then use to carry out extortion activities.”
However, the police said they have not received any complaints about extortion calls being made in the city so far.
Police believe the Bishnoi gang, which has so far been active mainly in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Western Uttar Pradesh, is attempting to step into the vacuum left after Mumbai’s underworld gangs led by Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Rajan and Ravi Pujari, among others, were largely neutralised over the past decade and a half.
The officer, however, said Anmol Bishnoi’s detention by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in November when he was trying to use a forged passport to travel has been a big blow to the gang. Anmol is currently lodged at the Pottawattamie County Jail in Iowa.
With both brothers behind bars — Lawrence is in Sabarmati Central Jail in Gujarat — the gang is now being run by Rohit Godara, an aide of Lawrence Bishnoi believed to be holed up in the UK. Police suspect that with several members under arrest, the Lawrence Bishnoi gang may lay low for some time.
The Bishnoi gang targeted Salman Khan on April 14, 2024, over his involvement in the 1998 killing of a black buck, which is revered by the Bishnoi community. Baba Siddique was gunned down on October 12 last year in Bandra East outside the office of his son Zeeshan Akhtar.
In their 4,590-page chargesheet filed before a special court on Monday, the Mumbai police crime branch said NCP leader Baba Siddique was killed because of his proximity to Salman Khan as well as the heightened security around the actor following the shooting outside his Mumbai residence last year.
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