KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
Continuing with its crackdown, the NIA has announced a Rs 10 lakh reward for providing information leading to the arrest of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi's brother Anmol, who has been named in the two charge sheets filed in connection with a case registered in 2022 under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act – UAPA.
Anmol’s name gained attention recently in connection with ongoing investigations in Mumbai, particularly related to activities involving a political party. He has also been wanted in connection with a shooting incident that occurred outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s residence earlier this year.
According to officials in the agency, the announcement is part of the NIA’s ongoing efforts to apprehend individuals involved in organised crime and related activities. They said the NIA has announced the reward and urged the general public to provide information on Anmol Bishnoi's whereabouts, as his arrest could lead the agency to have insights into broader ‘Gangster-Terror’ networks involved in illicit operations across the country.
The move comes almost nine months after the NIA seized several illegal arms and ammunition, along with incriminating documents, digital devices and cash, in a massive multi-state crackdown in three cases relating to conspiracies and activities of the banned Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and the Lawrence Bishnoi Crime Syndicate, among others, the officials said.
A total of 32 locations in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, as well as Chandigarh, were raided in January this year by multiple teams of NIA sleuths.
The cases in which the NIA swooped down in January were related to the terror activities being carried out by the BKI, a banned terrorist organisation, and the terrorist-gangster networks operating in the country.
The activities of the nexus include smuggling and induction of terrorist hardware, such as arms and ammunition, explosives and IEDs, across the borders. The terror hardware is being used by operatives/members of terror outfits and organised criminal syndicates for carrying out bomb explosions, targeted killings, extortions and terror funding of terror outfits in various parts of the country.
The network of the nexus has been involved in many sensational crimes, such as the murders of popular Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala as well as religious and social leaders like Pardeep Kumar, besides large-scale extortions from businessmen and professionals.