7 Punjab Police Officers Suspended Over Lawrence Bishnoi's Jail Interview

Chandigarh: In a big action Punjab government's Home Department suspended seven police officers in Punjab with immediate effect on Saturday for their alleged involvement in arranging an interview with jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. The suspended officers included two of the DSP rank. Jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi was then in police custody and the interview was aired on a national channel in March 2023. Lawrence Bishnoi was then being questioned for his role in the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala. After the interview aired, in September 2023 Punjab and Haryana court took suo motu cognisance of the matter. The High Court made several scathing observations and questioned how an interview was arranged if the latter was in police custody. Following this, an SIT team was formed and an FIR was filed.Bishnoi has been in jail since 2015 in multiple cases and is currently kept in Sabarmati Central Jail, Gujarat. Bishnoi is not only being probed by several state police but also by federal probe agencies like NIA and ED.

Recently, after the fatal shooting of Maharashtra politician Baba Siddique outside his son's office, Bishnoi's gang claimed responsibility, bringing Bishnoi back to light. Earlier he was in the headlines for a shooting attempt outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan's home and the murder of singer and politician Siddu Moosewala.

According to the NIA, Bishnoi’s gang has expanded rapidly, resembling the network built by Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company in the 1990s. The gang reportedly includes over 700 shooters, 300 of whom are linked to Punjab. Recently, the NIA charged 16 gangsters, including Bishnoi and his associate Goldy Brar, under the strict UAPA law. The chargesheet details the Bishnoi gang’s rise from minor crimes to becoming one of North India’s most feared criminal organizations, mirroring Dawood’s progression from small-time crimes to a vast network involving drug trafficking, extortion, and targeted killings.Between 2020 and 2021, the Bishnoi gang is believed to have generated crores of rupees through extortion, funnelled abroad via hawala channels. Officials noted the gang’s active use of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to grow its influence among young people.