Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi embraces Bhagat Singh, foxes jail officials

Prison officials in Delhi and Punjab have a common problem , one that involves jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. The problem isn’t about Bishnoi’s notoriety or his security, especially in the backdrop of bloody wars between him and his rival gangs in Delhi and Punjab. The problem is his obsession with T-shirts printed with the photographs of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, one of Punjab and India’s most revered martyrs -- something that police officials suspect is part of an elaborate image-building exercise.

“Lawrence Bishnoi is not a freedom fighter but the head of a criminal gang with cases of murder and extortion. He will not be allowed to wear such T-shirts and use them to promote himself,” one of the officials said, asking not to be named. According to this person, photographs of Bishnoi appearing in court in such T-shirts are used extensively in social media.

A Delhi prisons spokesperson confirmed that instructions were issued two months ago to superintendents in jails where Bishnoi is lodged to restrict him from wearing T-shirts with an image or quote of Bhagat Singh. Bishnoi was brought back to Delhi from Gujarat where he was taken by Gujarat Police in April this year for a probe in a case related to the cross-border smuggling of drugs that Gujarat police had busted there in September 2022. Until then he was lodged in Tihar Jail.

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Bishnoi, who was already in Tihar jail in connection with another case, was taken into Delhi police custody on May 31, 2022 — two days after the killing of singer Sidhu Moosewala. While in Delhi police custody, he was taken to Punjab on June 15 that year in relation to the probe where Punjab Police formally arrested him. He is currently lodged in Mandoli jail for a probe related to a National Investigation Agency (NIA) case. He is lodged there out of fear that the police won’t be able to protect him in Tihar.

On Instagram, there are at least six accounts, all unverified, linking Bishnoi with Bhagat Singh. One account is of Lawrence Bishnoi – fan of Bhagat Singh Bishnoi. Another account is Kalyug ka Ravan – Lawrence Bishnoi, Fan Bhagat Singh Da. A third account has the name Lawrence Bishnoi urf (alias) Bhagat. A Facebook group named Lawrence Bishnoi, which has a photograph of Bhagat Singh as its wallpaper has over 19,000 members.

The most recent post from another Facebook account, also named Lawrence Bishnoi, was on May 3 and claimed responsibility for the murder of gangster Sunil Baliyan alias Tillu in Tihar, who was stabbed to death in jail the previous day. From the same account, there was another post on March 23, a photograph of freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar. This account also has Bhagat Singh’s photograph as the wallpaper

Other posts on these accounts are related to the gang’s activities, some also offer guns for sale. Punjab and Delhi police have in the past arrested Bishnoi’s aides for selling guns using social media.

A Delhi Police special cell officer, who questioned Bishnoi last year in the Moosewala case said the gangster told him that “he was a follower of Bhagat Singh” and that he “tried to pose as a community leader and a religious man during the questioning.”

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The first official said the guards have been instructed to keep an eye on the clothes that Bishnoi’s relatives give him when they visit him in jail. The official cited provisions in the Delhi Prison Act, 2000, which says that while undertrial prisoners are allowed to wear their own clothes, clothes bearing marks or symbols, or resembling uniforms of armed forces or police will not be allowed.

A second prison officer, said: “These gangsters show their influence by sending photos of them wearing such T-shirts in prison. The video of them at the court premises is then circulated on social media platforms, which generates thousands of likes and creates a different image of the gangster. But all this has been stopped now. They may be using older photographs in their social media accounts.”

The officer added that the prison rules clearly state that an officer of the rank of IG is authorized to decide on the type of clothes that prisoners are allowed wear in prison. Not doing so is also an offence, he said.