Lawrence Bishnoi, a college dropout, the gangster graduated in crime from Chandigarh; watch video

Tribune News Service

Amit Sharma

Chandigarh, June 5

Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who has been hogging the limelight for the wrong reasons for the past few years for “ordering hits” from behind the bars and who has now been accused of orchestrating the killing of Punjabi singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, aka Sidhu Moosewala, had started his never-ending journey of crime during his college days in Chandigarh.

His murky world of crime

• Between 2010 and 2017, 16 FIRs were registered against Lawrence Bishnoi at different police stations across the tricity that included cases of attempt to murder, issuing threats and under the Arms Act. While six cases were registered in Chandigarh and seven in Mohali, three cases were registered in Panchkula.
• As per the information available with the police, Bishnoi was named in at least 33 cases registered in Chandigarh and neighboring states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan between 2010 and 2017.

One of the oldest cases as per the police records was registered at the Sector 11 police station, Chandigarh, in April 2010. Bishnoi and Supreet were accused of setting on fire a Mitsubishi Pajero and a Maruti Esteem parked at Panjab University Student Union (PUSU) leader Udey Wirring’s house in Sector 11.

There was “no looking back” for Bishnoi, who was switching over from student politics to violence. Between 2010 and 2017, 16 FIRs were registered against Bishnoi at different police stations across the tricity that included cases of attempt to murder, issuing threats and under the Arms Act. While six cases were registered in Chandigarh and seven in Mohali, three cases were registered in Panchkula.

In 2016, almost six years after the registration of the FIR at the Sector 11 police station, both Bishnoi and Supreet were acquitted by a local court.

In the judgment, the court had concluded, “The court is of the considered opinion that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove the guilt of the accused persons beyond reasonable doubt. As such, the accused are acquitted of the offences charged with”.

Police sources said Bishnoi had been acquitted in several other cases for want of evidence. “Witnesses fail to depose before the court fearing a threat to their life following which all cases fall flat”, said a police official.

However, in another case of attempt to murder, which was registered against Bishnoi at the Sector 34 police station, he was convicted by the court and sentenced to two-year imprisonment in 2016.

As per the information available with the police, Bishnoi was named in at least 33 cases registered in Chandigarh and neighboring states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan between 2010 and 2017.

Was active in student politics at DAV College

Bishnoi was active in student politics at DAV College, Sector 10, from 2010 onwards. In 2011, he was announced the SOPU party president of the college, in the presence of slain Youth Akali Dal (YAD) leader Vikramjit Singh Middukhera, alias Vicky Middukhera.

The video of SOPU leaders announcing Bishnoi as the party president outside the college canteen is among the few or probably the only video of Bishnoi’s social life before he turned a notorious gangster.

A former student leader, who was then associated with the Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU), said Bishnoi was a soft-spoken boy who wanted to make it big in politics. “I believe the lust for power drove Bishnoi into the world of crime. Student politics became the gateway for crime for him,” he said.

Bishnoi wanted to cement his base in student politics at DAV College and later enter Panjab University (PU), which is a nursery for potential leaders. “Bishnoi is a college dropout, he couldn’t even complete graduation,” said another former SOPU leader, who had known Bishnoi.

“Social media helps us expand our gang” — Bishnoi once told a cop. One thing which has made everyone wonder is how the Bishnoi gang keeps on growing while he is lodged in a jail for the past few years. A UT police inspector, who had arrested Bishnoi several times during the latter’s brief stint as a student in Chandigarh, said he had asked the same question to Bishnoi a few years ago.

“Bishnoi said the social media was his recruiter. He told me that a legion of loyal supporters in their early twenties who follow his Facebook pages express their desire to join the Lawrence Bishnoi group. They send messages on the social media,” he said. Bishnoi, who in the past, had easy access to a mobile phone in jail, asks such youngsters influenced from him, to get in touch with his gang members and carry out the killings ordered by him, the inspector said. The number keeps swelling; they are unemployed youth, who are provided with weapons by the Bishnoi gang.

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