Lawrence Bishnoi aide who guarded gang’s weapons in Mohali house nabbed
Identified as Simranjit Singh, 30, the accused was previously posted in the building branch of the Mohali municipal corporation and was now unemployed, police said
The operations cell of the Chandigarh Police has arrested an associate of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi who guarded the gang’s weapons at his house in Nandialai village, Mohali.
Identified as Simranjit Singh, 30, the accused was previously posted in the building branch of the Mohali municipal corporation and was now unemployed, police said.
He was arrested from his house on Thursday night following the disclosure of another gang member, Deepak, alias Deepu Banur, 29.
A .32-bore country made pistol and a magazine with five live cartridges were recovered from his house.
The arrest comes 16 days after the Chandigarh Police arrested Inderpreet Singh, alias Parry, a sharpshooter of the Bishnoi gang, with arms and ammunition from his Sector-33 house.
Deepak, a native of Banur, Patiala, was also named in the case registered against Inderpreet on March 16.
Lodged in Model Jail Burail, Deepak was brought out on production warrant for interrogation on March 30, which led to Simranjit’s arrest.
Police officials privy to the matter said Simranjit acted as a “weapon keeper” for the gang. While he was not involved in any extortion calls made by the gang, he would hold on to its weapons and help dispose them of when needed.
They said Simranjit was known to Deepak as they live in adjoining villages and had also worked in the same office as Deepak’s cousin for some time.
Police said while Simranjit had no other criminal history, Deepak was accused of four murder cases from 2016 and 2017, nine cases of attempt to murder, 13 Arms Act cases and three dacoity cases from between 2014 and 2021.
Simranjit was presented in a court on Friday and sent to judicial custody, said operations cell in-charge Amanjot Singh.
Probing into the gang’s extortion racket, which was busted with Inderpreet’s arrest on March 16, police said though they could not reveal the names of the victims, the gangsters had called up various businessmen, including owners of restaurants, discotheques and immigration agencies, and even commission agents at the Sector 26 grain market.
Police are working on arresting more people involved in the racket.
Inderpreet was previously arrested in 2017 for sheltering Bhola Shooter, a close aide of Bishnoi, after he allegedly murdered rival gangster Lavi Deora in Kotkapura, Punjab, in July 2017.
Inderpreet had once also helped Bishnoi escape from the custody of Punjab Police near Landran, Kharar, and had been helping the gang with money and communication.
Earlier in February, the operations cell had arrested Manjit Singh, another associate of Bishnoi, for extorting money from a transporter. Three people were arrested on October 15, 2020, after Tinku, who operates a hotel in Kajheri, complained that he was receiving extortion calls from people claiming to be from the Bishnoi gang.
In 2018, Bishnoi’s close aide Sampat Nehra had made an extortion call to the owner of Kumar Brothers, a well-known chemist shop in Sector 11, and demanded ₹1 crore from him.
While Bishnoi remains lodged in jail and many other members of his gang are also behind the bars in various states, the gang has been carrying out their criminal activities through mobile phone communication.