Lawrence Bishnoi running syndicate from jail: Delhi court frames charges in organised crime case

According to the Delhi Police, Lawrence  Bishnoi and others were allegedly members of an organised crime syndicate operating from inside jail, which was committing crimes like murder, attempt to murder, robbery, kidnapping, extortion, criminal intimidation and criminal assault in an organised manner for pecuniary gains.

The police, represented in court by advocate Akhand Pratap Singh, had alleged that multiple mobile phones were recovered from the gang members of this crime syndicate in jail, which were allegedly being used to maintain contact with other gang members to execute crimes.

The syndicate had allegedly systematically engaged in extortion, contract killings, illegal arms trafficking and terror-based intimidation, targeting businessmen and local operators for protection money, the police claimed.

As per them, funds generated from extortion were channelled into procuring sophisticated weapons to sustain gang operations.

Lawrence Bishnoi, who allegedly has a “criminal empire of 700 operatives”, has 84 cases registered against him in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi.

The gangster has been in jail since 2014 after he had his first armed encounter with police personnel at a picket en route to the Salasar Balaji Temple in Rajasthan. He is currently lodged in Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

The charges against him, over a span of 17 years since 2007 when he first went behind bars for allegedly opening fire on a candidate for student elections at Panjab University, range from the alleged assassination of a liquor businessman in Delhi-NCR to the hit on Sidhu Moosewala.