‘Special arrangements’ in jail: In a first, Lawrence Bishnoi’s aide claims gangster has cellphones in Sabarmati prison

When contacted, authorities in the Sabarmati prison denied the allegations, saying there was no special arrangement for any inmate.

On December 12, Delhi Police Special Cell filed a chargesheet in connection with the murder of gym owner Nadir Shah in a city court, citing the judicial confession of Hashim Baba. A team had earlier visited the Sabarmati jail and questioned Bishnoi to ascertain the motive behind the murder but he did not cooperate, following which he was arrested in this case on December 2.

Bishnoi, who police say is the key conspirator, is among 14 people chargesheeted in connection with the murder of Shah, an Afghan national, on September 13. “Bishnoi directed his US-based accomplice Randeep Malik to manage all the planning and execution of the operation to murder Shah… He transferred money into the account of the arrested shooters and a lookout circular has also been issued against him,” Delhi Police said in its chargesheet.

They claimed in the chargesheet that Shah’s murder is a recent example of inter-gang cooperation and elaborate planning among gangs of a criminal syndicate to achieve a common objective — to spread fear and expand their sphere of influence as well as extortion business.

In their chargesheet, police have connected the involvement of all the accused, but have not found the “exact motive” behind Shah’s murder.

After Hashim Baba moved an application from Northeast Delhi’s Mandoli Jail to record his judicial confession, his statement was recorded on October 1. In his statement, he alleged that Bishnoi, who has been in the Sabarmati jail since August 2023, approached him to kill Shah.

“Hashim was in Tihar jail in 2021 when Bishnoi came to Tihar jail from a Punjab jail and they became close friends. After around six to seven months, he moved to Punjab and came back again… Last year, he was moved to Sabarmati Jail and around two months ago (in August), he started talking with Hashim over the phone frequently… He (Hashim) has claimed that Bishnoi in a video call showed his two cellphones and also claimed that there were good arrangements for him in the jail,” police said.

When contacted, Nidhi Thakur, Superintendent, Sabarmati Central Jail, told The Indian Express that there was no special arrangement for any jail inmate and they are following the jail manual. She also denied that Bishnoi had access to cellphones inside the jail.

This is not the first time that Bishnoi, the alleged mastermind in singer Sidhu Moosewala’s murder and the firing at actor Salman Khan’s Mumbai home, has been accused of possessing phones or making calls from inside prison.

In June, a 19-second video call of him purportedly talking to Pakistani gangster Shahzad Bhatti from Sabarmati jail was widely shared on social media. Before that, he allegedly gave two back-to-back interviews to a news channel while in a jail in March 2023 after which Punjab Police registered two FIRs.

In his statement, Hashim Baba also alleged that he received a call from Bishnoi who asked him to arrange for two men to execute a crime. “He (Bishnoi) also asked him to provide logistics support to him and he made arrangements for a room in Okhla for them. He (Bishnoi) later called him to inform him that Randeep — from Haryana and currently based in the US — would handle the whole planning… On September 12-13, Bishnoi called him to say that Shah was killed,” police claimed in the chargesheet.

“During the investigation, permission was sought from the court concerned to interrogate Bishnoi. On December 2, Bishnoi was interrogated about his role. He, however, did not cooperate… There were sufficient grounds to arrest him in the present case and he was arrested under Section 61(2) of BNS,” police said.

Shah was shot allegedly by four armed assailants outside his gym in Greater Kailash even as two police personnel were waiting for him inside the facility.