The fresh chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against the jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar established a terror link in the much-publicized sensational murder of popular Punjabi singer and Congress leader Shubdeep Singh Sidhu, popularly known as Sidhu Moosewala.

The NIA in its chargesheet mentioned links of Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar with the proscribed Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and several other pro-Khalistan terrorist outfits.

On Friday, NIA on Friday filed a fresh chargesheet against jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar, and a dozen others, charging them with criminal conspiracy to unleash a wave of terror and carry out targeted killings of high-profile people.

Sidhu Moosewalla
social media account of Sidhu Moosewalla

The prosecution complaint has been filed against these gangsters who, the federal anti-terror agency said, had "links" with the proscribed Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and several other pro-Khalistan terrorist outfits. Today is the second case of the three terror-gangster nexus cases the NIA is investigating.

Lawrence operating terror-crime syndicate from jails

According to NIA Lawrence Bishnoi, in custody since 2015, has been operating his terror-crime syndicate from jails in different States, along with Canada-based Goldy Brar, who 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 for providing killers for the RPG attack case on Punjab State Intelligence HQs at Mohali, which was carried out on directions of Harwinder Singh alias Rinda, a Pakistan-based BKI terrorist, NIA investigations have revealed.

Goldy Brar was found to have direct links with Lakhbir Singh alias Landa, another BKI operative working closely with Rinda, as revealed in NIA investigations so far.

Lakhbir Singh alias Landa is also an accused in the Mohali RPG attack, as well as the December 2022 RPG attack on Police Station Sirhali in Tarn Taran, Punjab. Investigations against Landa and three others are continuing.

NIA
MINT

All 14 accused charged with unleashing a wave of terror

All the 14 accused have been charged with criminal conspiracy to unleash a wave of terror and carry out targeted killings of well-known social and religious leaders, movie stars, singers, and businessmen.

Besides having links with conspirators in Pakistan, the accused were also in contact with pro-Khalistani elements based in Canada, Nepal, and other countries, NIA investigations have further revealed.

Raids were conducted at 74 locations across the country

NIA has seized a huge cache of nine illegal and sophisticated weapons, 14 magazines, 298 rounds of ammunition and 183 digital devices, and other incriminating material in raids across 74 locations in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chandigarh, and Delhi in the case.

The investigating agency had conducted large-scale searches over a period of six months and examined around 70 members of different organised crime Support networks during the course of its investigations.

The investigations further led the NIA to the hideouts set up across Haryana and Punjab, which were being used to harbour the gangsters and store weapons.

Those chargesheeted by NIA on Friday namely

  1.  Lawrence Bishnoi.
  2.  Jagdeep Singh alias Jaggu Bhagwanpuriya.
  3.  Satwinderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar.
  4.  Sachin Thapan alias Sachin Bishnoi.
  5.  Anmol Bishnoi alias Bhanu.
  6.  Vikramjeet Singh alias Vikram Brar.
  7.  Sandeep Jhanjariya alias Kala Jatheri.
  8.  Virender Pratap Singh alias Kala Rana.
  9.  Joginder Singh.
  10.  Rajesh Kumar alias Raju Mota.
  11.  Raj Kumar alias Raju alias Raju Basodi.
  12.  Anil alias Chippi.
  13.  Naresh Yadav alias Seth
  14.  Shahbaaz Ansari alias Shahbaaz.

Earlier, on March 21, the NIA had filed its first chargesheet against 12 accused in the terror-gangster nexus cases under investigation. The accused in that case were identified as Arsh Dala, Gaurav Patyal, Sukhpreet Buddha, Kaushal Choudhary, Amit Dagar, Naveen Bali, Chhotu Bhat, Asif Khan, Jagga Takhatmal, Tillu Tajpuria, Bhupi Rana and Sandeep Bandar.
Today's action takes the total number of accused chargesheeted by the NIA so far in these cases to 26.