E-Paper
Bishnoi gang extorting money from immigration centres, club owners: STF
On the basis of a complaint received from Special Task Force (STF) against the alleged extortion racket being run by members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang in Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra and Kaithal, the Kurukshetra police have registered an FIR
The Kurukshetra police have registered an FIR on the basis of a complaint received from Special Task Force (STF) against the alleged extortion racket being run by members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang in Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra and Kaithal.
The STF has highlighted how the gang members, some in jail and others in foreign land, are running the racket through internet calls, sharing money through hawala and recruiting more members through social media.
The complainant, ASI Rajan from the Ambala Unit of the STF, said that he received a tip-off that gangster Virender Pratap alias Kala Rana, who is affiliated to the gang and is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, remains in touch with Anmol Bishnoi, brother of Lawrence Bishnoi, and Satender alias Goldy Brar, who runs the gang, through different social media platforms like WhatsApp and Signal app, while both are in foreign countries.
“He also communicates with his nephew Bhanu Pratap alias Ashu and another relative Prince in foreign countries and asks them to make extortion calls to immigration centre owners in Kurukshetra, Ambala, Ladwa, Yamunanagar and Kaithal, and club owners in Panchkula area,” he added.
“Through his aides Kala extorts money that is shared among the family members and other members of the gang. Despite a call if someone refuses to give the extortion money, the aides fire at their shops or offices,” the cop said.
“Through such tactics and intimidations, they are extorting money in lakhs. By showing their lives of the gangsters in jail and through social media accounts, they are also adding new members in the gang and engage them in smuggling of weapons, drugs or ask them to fire at merchants not giving extortion money. In such crime, Kala’s brother Surya Pratap alias Noni Rana or some of his relatives or a gang member help them,” the FIR reads.
It was also alleged that all the transactions are undertaken through bank accounts or hawala and if all are probed, there could be huge recovery of weapons, drugs or extorted money.
A case was registered under sections 387, 120-B and 511 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Thanesar Sadar police station on Tuesday.
While Kurukshetra SP Surender Singh Bhoria remained unavailable for comments and his subordinates refused to acknowledge any information on the FIR, sources in the STF said Anmol Bishnoi has been actively calling several businessmen, including liquor contractor, immigration centre owners, mining contractors and property dealers in the region, on behalf of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang seeking extortion up to ₹2 crore.
In the past six months, shots have been fired thrice at the offices or residences of IELTS centre owners in Ambala and Yamunanagar by gang members and twice in Kurukshetra as well, it is learnt.
The shooters or those involved in providing the logistics were nabbed by the STF and the racket came to the fore, an STF official involved in the probe said.
A senior official in the police department claimed that a handful of complaints on extortion calls have reached the police, while many of the victims pay the money out of fear.
Kala Rana, a resident of Yamunanagar, is also being questioned by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) in connection with a narco-terror funding case.
An associate of Lawrence Bishnoi-Goldy Brar-Kala Jathedi syndicate, he is lodged at high-security Tihar Jail since he was arrested by the Delhi Police in 2022 on his extradition from Thailand, where he fled using a forged passport in 2017.
