How Does Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, Who Has Threatened Salman Khan, Spend His Day In Sabarmati Jail?

The recent murder of former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Baba Siddique in Mumbai has sent shockwaves through India, with the spotlight falling on Lawrence Bishnoi (31), a notorious gangster currently incarcerated in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Jail.

The Lawrence Bishnoi gang has claimed responsibility for the murder, raising unsettling questions about how a prisoner under tight security could orchestrate such a crime.

Sources within Sabarmati Jail paint a picture of Lawrence Bishnoi that seems at odds with his violent reputation. He reportedly follows a strict routine, waking up at 5 am for prayer and exercise, maintaining a largely fruit-based diet, and observing religious fasts, including a nine-day fast during Navratri and two silent fasts per week.

However, this façade of piety belies the reality of his confinement. Lawrence Bishnoi is housed in the high-security zone of Sabarmati’s old jail, reserved for inmates deemed ‘high-risk’. Within this section, he occupies a barrack designed for 40-50 prisoners alone, under the constant surveillance of CCTV cameras and a heavy security detail comprised of jail police, Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), and National Investigation Agency (NIA) personnel. His movements are restricted, and any required items are delivered directly to him.

Bishnoi’s current stint in Sabarmati began in August 2023, following his arrest by the ATS in April 2023 for a drug case later transferred to the NIA. While he was briefly shifted to another facility, the NIA returned him to Sabarmati, where he remains to this day.

Lawrence Bishnoi, a product of a gangster-terror network nexus, has been named by the NIA in several high-profile cases, including his links with banned terror group Babbar Khalsa International, and smuggling of arms and ammunition from Pakistan.

Despite the NIA taking significant steps towards dismantling Lawrence Bishnoi’s criminal network, he continues to execute his design through a large group of henchman and sharpshooters in several states, especially in the North and Western parts of India.

In a bid to dismantle the gangster-terror network associated with the Babbar Khalsa International, the NIA named Bishnoi last year in a chargesheet in a terror case, detailing his criminal activities, and smuggling of weapons, explosives and drugs from Pakistan.

The anti-terror agency had claimed that Bishnoi was instrumental in coordinating communication channels, enabling seamless interactions among gang members, even those incarcerated in jails.

The NIA had claimed that Bishnoi was running an extortion syndicate with Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar, who has close links with pro-Khalistan terror outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI).

Goldy Brar is an accused in the killing of Pradeep Kumar, a Dera Sacha Sauda follower, in Faridkot in November 2022.

The Lawrence Bishnoi terror-crime-extortion syndicate was also responsible in the RPG attack on Punjab State Intelligence headquarters in the state’s Mohali in May 2023, and it was allegedly carried out on directions of Harwinder Singh alias Rinda, a Pakistan-based BKI terrorist, NIA investigations have revealed.

The NIA had also filed a chargesheet against Bishnoi in a case involving the seizure of around 39 kg heroin by the Gujarat Police in September 2022.

The agency had also attached four properties owned by members of the Lawrence Bishnoi syndicate. The properties, of which three were immovable and one movable, were attached in a coordinated swoop by NIA teams in Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh under the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The Lawrence Bishnoi gang operates in several states including Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Jharkhand and always keep trying to recruit gullible youth into it, sources said.