VoIP calls, ‘newer boys’: Why Lawrence Bishnoi gang has become pain for Mumbai cops

According to officers the absence of formal complaints has left the police with little clarity on the extent of extortion attempts if any being carried out by the gang.

Forensic officials carrying out inspection at Rohit Shetty’s house on Sunday after the firing (Express Photo by Akash Patil).

While the gang claimed in a threat message posted online after the firing outside Rohit Shetty’s residence that it had been making calls to Bollywood, police say no complaints have been received. The mix of fear and technology has meant these activities largely remain outside the police radar.

“The biggest change that has taken place as compared to the past is that earlier we knew the international numbers that gangsters used which we could track. We could know whom they are calling and threatening even when celebrities did not come forward. Hence we could approach the celebrities informally and give them the confidence to come forward and give a complaint which worked on most occasions,” the officer said.

“Now with VoIP calls being used, unless we have some technical details regarding the devices being, used we cannot keep track. And as these devices keep changing, it becomes difficult to keep track of such calls and find out who is being threatened,” the officer added.

“Even in the Rohit Shetty case while the social media post indicates some kind of communication, he has told us that he has not received any such calls. Even if such calls were made, people may not be coming forward out of fear. And since in many cases these do not come in our radar we cannot reach out and assure people to give complaints. This has become a major challenge in keeping track of the gang’s activities,” the officer said.

Investigators say another major shift from the past is the use of new shooters for each operation rather than known gang members.

Earlier gangs relied on identified sharpshooters such as Firoz Kokani of the Dawood gang or Umed Ur Rehman of the Rajan gang and police maintained detailed dossiers on their networks.

“If a particular shooter was involved in the firing, we could immediately connect the dots and bring down the entire network. We knew where they lived who their family and friends were,” the officer said.

In the Salman Khan case, the accused were from north Indian states and described by police as “fans”of the Bishnoi gang. In the Baba Siddique case, the gang used network of Shubham Lonkar, along with contacts in north India. In the latest case all those involved were from Pune and were arranged by Lonkar through his local network.

“These are young boys who do not have past criminal records. They hail from poor families and are enamoured by these gangs mainly in case of the Bishnoi gang through social media and also reach out to the gang via social media expressing a desire to work for them,” the police officer said.

“In Lonkar’s case, there were youngsters from his locality who looked upto him. Only one of them had a past record for in connection with a fight he was involved in.”

“Earlier gang members were known with past criminal records and easily identifiable. They were also given a good payout. Now these boys are new and are given a pittance,” the officer said.

“In the Baba Siddique shootout, the gang initially approached experienced shooters for carrying out the killing. The shooters, however, asked for Rs 1.5 crore from the Bishnoi gang. They refused and eventually the Bishnoi gang got the shootout done from amateurs and paid Rs 1.5 lakh for it,” a senior officer said.

Police say even the way gangs claim responsibility has changed. “Earlier, when the underworld carried out firings to intimidate their victims they would themselves call up media channels and ‘claim the attack’.”

“In today’s time, while they do claim credit, they ensure they can have deniability in the future. The Bishnoi gang puts up a post on a social media platform takes a screenshot of it and then deletes the post. The screenshot is then circulated. This ensures that the URL of the link cannot be traced. In the future the screenshot will hardly have any evidentiary value with high deniability,” the officer added.