Salman Khan and a dead blackbuck: Why Lawrence Bishnoi gang could be Mumbai Police’s new headache

For the Mumbai Police, used to the ways of the city’s underworld gangs who are not known to carry out any such acts without the promised amount in hand, the Bishnoi gang’s approach was markedly different. Several officers from central agencies and the state police told The Indian Express that for the city police, the Bishnoi gang was a “new headache”, a “new beast”. Lawrence Bishnoi, a prime accused in the 2022 murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, is currently lodged in Gujarat’s Sabarmati prison.

Lawrence Bishnoi (right) with an alleged member of his gang in Chandigarh. (File Photo)

With Mumbai’s underworld gangs led by Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Rajan and Ravi Pujari, among others, largely neutralised over the past decade and a half, police suspect the Bishnoi gang, which has so far been active mainly in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and (western) UP, is attempting to step into this vacuum.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Mumbai, Lakhmi Gautam told The Indian Express, “Mumbai Police Crime Branch is investigating the Salman Khan threat case in a professional manner which will ensure that Bishnoi does not gain any ground in the city and the potential problem is nipped in the bud.”

The three alleged shooters of the Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar gang caught by Chandigarh police are seen during a press conference on February 28. (Express File Photo/ Jasbir Malhi)

Gangster networks are known to target someone high profile so that their threat gets wider publicity. The Bishnoi gang, police suspect, were attempting to get their foot in the door in Mumbai and the opportunity came knocking in the form of Salman Khan, who is in the dock for allegedly shooting a blackbuck — an antelope species that’s revered by the Bishnoi community — in Rajasthan during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain in 1998.

An IPS officer with the Mumbai Police said, “While Bishnoi claims that he is upset with the actor for shooting a blackbuck, we think he is trying to make a name for himself by targeting Salman Khan. So the instruction to the two men who fired outside the actor’s house was only to create a scare, not to kill.”

Bishnoi gang in Maharashtra

An officer said that over the past two years, apart from a case in which Congress MLA Aslam Shaikh allegedly received a threat call from a person claiming to be from the Bishnoi gang, there have been no reported cases of the gang members threatening people in the city.

The IPS officer said, “It is possible that some threat calls made by the gang have not been reported to us due to fear. Hence, we have passed on the message to those in the film industry that they should not be scared to approach us if they receive a threat call. We have assured them full protection.”

Soon after Moosewala was shot dead in Jawaharke village of Punjab’s Mansa district on May 29, 2022, police arrested two alleged Bishnoi gang members — Sourabh Mahakal and Santosh Jadhav — from Maharashtra and recovered 10 firearms.

Anuj Thapan, accused of firing outside Salman Khan’s house, allegedly attempted suicide in his cell. He died in the hospital. (File Photo/PTI)

Police found that Jadhav, a history-sheeter from Manchar town in Pune whose gang was into extortion, had allegedly contacted Lawrence Bishnoi via Instagram, offering to work for his gang. After the murder, Jadhav had allegedly taken refuge in Bishnoi’s Ferozepur home.

“Eventually, Jadhav was arrested and MCOCA (the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) was invoked against 10-12 persons of his gang, which meant they will not get bail for a few years. This was also to ensure that more criminals from Maharashtra do not join his gang,” said Kulwant Sarangal, retired IPS officer who was ADG (Law & Order), Maharashtra Police, in 2022.

A week after Moosewala’s murder, on June 6, 2022, a letter was found on a bench in Mumbai’s Bandstand Promenade, where Salim Khan, scriptwriter and father of actor Salman Khan, usually sat after his morning walk. It read: “Salim Khan, Salman Khan bahot jald aapka Moosewala hoga GB LB (Salim Khan, Salman Khan will very soon meet Moosewala’s fate).” The initials “LB” and “GB” in the letter, police say, presumably stood for Lawrence Bishnoi and his Canada-based aide Goldy Brar.

One of the accused who allegedly opened fire outside actor Salman Khan’s residence at a Mumbai court. (File Photo/PTI)

That the letter was sent a week after the Moosewala murder was seen by some in the security establishment as Bishnoi trying to use the publicity he generated after Moosewala’s murder to extort from Bollywood.

In March 2023, the actor’s manager received an e-mail which said that Goldy Brar wanted to talk to the actor. Police, however, traced the letter to an Indian student in the UK and was not sure if he was linked to the gang or was simply playing a prank.

In November 2023, after shots were heard outside the Canada residence of Punjabi singer-actor Gippy Grewal, an account posing as gangster Lawrence Bishnoi posted on Facebook, “You consider Salman Khan a brother, but now it’s time for your ‘brother’ to come and save you. This message is also for Salman Khan — don’t be under the illusion that Dawood will save you.” This was the last threat before the firing outside the actor’s residence last month.

Presence on social media

The Mumbai Police has found that unlike Mumbai’s underworld of yore, which operated under layers of secrecy, the Bishnoi gang openly used social media platforms.

It is on ‘fan accounts’ on platforms such as Instagram that the gang maintains its image through reels, photographs of youngsters posing with AK-47s and videos of Lawrence Bishnoi coming for court hearings in Bhagat Singh T-shirts. These accounts are usually the first to share posts claiming responsibility for attacks or killings carried out by gang members. These posts garner thousands of likes on social media platforms, keeping the Lawrence Bishnoi myth alive.

Investigators say that unlike the Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan gangs, which relied on hired ‘sharpshooters’ to do the job for them, the Bishnoi gang, with its presence on social media, was a big draw among youngsters. Officers said that it was thanks to this “craze” that the gang managed to hire newer people with no crime record for every new ‘job’.

The IPS officer said, “We know that the gang has a good presence on social media platforms through which they lure youngsters. So we have given some officers the task of ensuring that such accounts are blocked.”

Lawrence Bishnoi (wearing a red cap) with other alleged members of his gang. (Express/File Photo)

Senior officers also said the Bishnoi gang promised a “new life” in Canada to its potential recruits. “Most such people come from impoverished or broken families and are looking to make it big in the world of crime… and are willing to do anything to achieve it,” said an officer from the Crime Branch.

“Several youngsters who are part of these Bishnoi fan accounts suffix 302 and 307 — IPC charges for murder and attempt to murder — to their Instagram handles to boast of their criminal nature and to catch the attention of gang kingpins who are looking to hire recruits,” said an officer.

In October last year, the Punjab Police informed the Ministry of Home Affairs, heads of the state police forces and anti-terror agencies that they had blocked over 6,000 such social media accounts.

An officer said that just as Bollywood celebrities have managers to work on their public persona, Bishnoi’s image, too, is a consciously cultivated one — that of a patriotic person, a fan of Bhagat Singh, someone who is anti-Khalistan and wants to open gau shalas when released from prison.

In September last year, Bishnoi filed a bail application before a special NIA court where he complained about being treated as a convict, saying he is no longer allowed to wear Bhagat Singh T-shirts.