Crackdown on Bishnoi-Brar gang: 10 held in interstate op

Delhi Police arrested nine people and apprehended a minor from across the country, effectively cracking down on the Lawrence Bishnoi-Goldy Brar gang in a two-week operation, officers aware of the matter said. The suspects were identified after police came across incriminating conversations while monitoring their activities and further mounting surveillance on social media portals, officers said.

Between April 27 and May 2, the special cell of Delhi Police held two people from Delhi, one from Rajasthan, one from Madhya Pradesh, two from Uttar Pradesh, two from Punjab, one from Haryana and one from Bihar, recovering seven pistols, 31 live cartridges and 11 mobile phones in all.

Deputy commissioner of police (special cell) Pratiksha Godara said that the teams were gathering information about gangsters operating from other countries and from behind bars, to dismantle their networks. Godara said information was received about an “interstate module of extortionists, contract killers and shooters” operating at the behest of Bishnoi, who is lodged in jail, and Brar who is based abroad.

Police said that while monitoring the conversation, they came across a murder conspiracy. “It was also learnt that these gangsters had also procured weapons,” Godara said.

Police decided to delay no further and started cracking down by identifying their locations.

The first in the series of arrests, of accused identified as Jaspreet Singh alias Rahul, 25, of Punjab, and Dharmendra Kumar alias Kartik, 23, of Kanpur, was done in Delhi on April 27. Simultaneously, teams arrested Abhay Soni, 22, of Jaipur, from Rajasthan, Sachin Kumar, 26, from Uttar Pradesh, and Santosh Kumar alias Sultan Baba, 20, from Madhya Pradesh. A minor was also detained during raids in Uttar Pradesh.

The next arrests were made on April 30, wherein accused Manjeet Singh, 24, was arrested from his residence in Haryana, and Gurpal Singh, 26, and Manjeet Singh Guri, 22, from their respective homes in Punjab. The last arrest was on May 2, of Santosh Kumar, 27, from Bihar.

Police said Gurpal and Manjeet Guri were in touch with Brar through an intermediary and were planning to kill a businessman in Zirakpur last November as he refused to pay money demanded from him. However, they were intercepted by police.

Jaspreet and Sachin also have criminal cases against them, previously booked for supplying weapons to the gang.

Abhay, police said, was running a group “Rajasthan Shooters” on a social media portal through which he came in contact with the others. Dharmendra and Sultan Baba were previously associated with gangster Durlabh Kashyap, of Madhya Pradesh, and later joined the Bishnoi-Brar gang, police said.