NIA charge-sheets gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar, 12 others in terror-gangster nexus case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a fresh charge sheet against jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar, the alleged masterminds in the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, and a dozen others, charging them with criminal conspiracy to unleash a wave of terror and carry out targeted killings of high-profile people.

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.

The charge sheet came in the second of the three terror-gangster nexus cases that are being investigated by the NIA.

"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-Khalistan elements based in Canada, Nepal and other countries," the NIA said.

Apart from Bishnoi and Brar (alias Satwinderjeet Singh), the other accused who were charge-sheeted were Jagdeep Singh alias Jaggu Bhagwanpuriya, Sachin Thapan alias Sachin Bishnoi, Anmol Bishnoi alias Bhanu, Vikramjeet Singh alias Vikram Brar, Sandeep Jhanjariya alias Kala Jatheri, Virender Pratap Singh alias Kala Rana, Joginder Singh, Rajesh Kumar alias Raju Mota, Raj Kumar alias Raju/Raju Basodi, Anil alias Chippi, Naresh Yadav alias Seth, and Shahbaaz Ansari alias Shahbaaz.

Bishnoi, who continues to remain in jail after his arrest in 2015, has been operating his terror-crime syndicate from prisons in different states, along with Canada-based Goldy Brar, who is an accused in the killing of 'Dera Sacha Sauda' follower Pradeep Kumar at Faridkot (Punjab) 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 headquarters at Mohali, which was carried out on directions of Harwinder Singh alias Rinda, a Pakistan-based BKI terrorist," the NIA said.

Brar was found to have "direct links" with Lakhbir Singh alias Landa, another BKI operative working closely with Rinda, it said.

Landa is also an accused in the Mohali RPG attack, as well as the December 2022 RPG attack on police station Sirhali in the Tarn Taran district of Punjab.

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

The agency said it also "examined" around 70 members of different organised crime support networks during the course of its investigations.

"Seven LOCs (look out circulars) and 5 NBWs (non-bailable warrants) have so far been issued in the case, 7 immovable properties were attached/seized and 62 bank accounts were frozen under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)." it said.

The NIA, on March 21, had filed its first charge sheet against 12 accused in the terror-gangster nexus cases under investigation. The accused in that case were 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.