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Firearms supplier’s arrest in Lko exposes Lawrence Bishnoi’s gun supply network
According to the STF officials, the arrested supplier, Prince Kailash Vishwakarma, a resident of Lucknow’s Takrohi locality, along with Sajjan Kumar alias Deepak from Bahraich, reportedly travelled to Maharashtra to deliver four pistols.
The arrest of a firearms supplier from Indira Nagar police station limits on Saturday night has led to new insights into a gun supply network allegedly linked to notorious Punjab gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, currently held in Ahmedabad jail, according to senior special task force (STF) officials.
Bishnoi’s gang, believed to be involved in the October 12 murder of former Maharashtra minister and MLA Baba Ziauddin Siddique in Mumbai, reportedly used firearms sourced through this network. Two men from Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, allegedly connected to the murder, received pistols from a Pune-based dealer also from Bahraich. One of the accused remains at large.
According to the STF officials, the arrested supplier, Prince Kailash Vishwakarma, a resident of Lucknow’s Takrohi locality, along with Sajjan Kumar alias Deepak from Bahraich, reportedly travelled to Maharashtra to deliver four pistols. The two were detained separately on November 5 in Maharashtra: Vishwakarma in Thane’s Chitalsur area and Kumar in Greater Mumbai’s Brihmumbai region. However, Vishwakarma managed to escape police custody on the night of November 5-6.
STF officials, acting on a request from Maharashtra police, tracked and apprehended Vishwakarma from a tea stall near his house in Takrohi locality under Indira Nagar police station limits on Saturday night. A senior STF official said the accused has been handed over to Maharashtra police custody after securing his transit remand.
During initial questioning, Vishwakarma revealed that he and Kumar travelled by train to supply firearms in Maharashtra but were intercepted due to an insider tip-off, said an STF official. He said the accused informed that Kumar has ties with multiple firearm suppliers and is active in providing weapons to criminal gangs in Mumbai. The Maharashtra police are set to interrogate Kumar further, suspecting the duo’s involvement in a larger supply chain supporting Bishnoi’s network.
