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Bishnoi’s arrested ‘aide’ feuded with SP MLA, wanted to enter politics: Police sources
Even before the investigation into Vikas Singh’s links with Bishnoi began, Singh hogged the attention of security agencies due to his dispute with the MLA during the assembly elections last year, a senior police official said.
A Uttar Pradesh resident who was arrested days before by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from Delhi for his alleged association with jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, allegedly was trying to build up his defences due to his intense feud with ‘muscleman’ MLA Abhay Singh, officials close to the investigation revealed.
Abhay Singh is the current Samajwadi Party MLA from Goshainganj of Ayodhya.
The NIA is likely to bring Vikas Singh to his Lucknow and Ayodhya residences, where he allegedly sheltered members of Bishnoi’s gangs on multiple occasions. After his arrest on Tuesday, the NIA secured his five-day custody from a court as part of its investigation into the ‘narco-terror’ nexus spread across multiple states.
Even before the investigation into Vikas Singh’s links with Bishnoi began, Singh hogged the attention of security agencies due to his dispute with the MLA during the assembly elections last year, a senior Uttar Pradesh Police official said wishing to remain anonymous.
“Vikas Singh backed Abhay Singh’s opponent and BJP candidate Arti Tiwari, who is the wife of former BJP MLA Indra Pratap Tiwari alias Khaboo Tiwari. However, Abhay Singh won the election,” the official said.
The official claimed Vikas Singh was himself planning to enter the electoral fray for which he was trying to build his political clout.
“Vikas has provided safe houses for several members of the Bishnoi’s terror syndicate, including the executors of the RPG Attack on Punjab Police’s intelligence headquarters in Mohali on May 9, 2022,” he added.
The senior cop also said Vikas Singh had over 10 criminal cases registered in the state. They included those for murder and attempt to murder and others registered under the Arms Act and the Gangster Act.
Another police official said Vikas Singh’s links with the Bishnoi gang first surfaced after the arrest of one Deepak Ranga a.k.a. Deepak Surakhpur by the NIA from the India-Nepal border near Gorakhpur on January 25 this year. He said Ranga was also working with Canada-based Lakhbir Singh Sandhu and Pakistan-based Harvinder Singh Sandhu, both alleged terrorists. Ranga is also a key accused in the explosion at the Punjab Police intelligence headquarters.
The NIA official said Vikas harboured Ranga and Divyanshu, who executed the RPG attack in Punjab, multiple times at two locations: his parental house in Ayodhya’s Devgarh village and his Lucknow apartment.
In an earlier press note, the NIA stated that Vikas Singh was introduced to Ranga by Bishnoi’s friend and associate Vicky Midhukhera. Later, Singh introduced Divyanshu, whom he already knew, to Bishnoi’s syndicate. Surakhpur and Divyanshu were reportedly involved in
numerous contract killings, including that of businessman Sanjay Biyani in Nanded and one Rana Kandhowalia in Punjab.
