Why youths fall for life of crime in Bishnoi gang

Police estimate the syndicate has more than 700 young operatives across India, who are allegedly activated for specific assignments.

It takes a very specific kind of personality to become a foot soldier of the Bishnoi gang. Yet there seems to be no shortage of young men – many teenagers, some even minors – who fit the profile. Restless and reckless, these young men are chasing shortcuts to the good life with little regard for the risks. A violent and bloody track record only pushes them to the front of the line.

Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi is escorted by police personnel before being produced in Panchkula Court, Haryana, India, on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019. (HT Archive)

Two of the three alleged assailants who fired at actor Tiger Shroff’s car on Sunday were aged 18 and from Sonipet in Haryana; the third was aged 22. Police say almost every successive investigation involving the Bishnoi gang reveals frontline cadres who are very young and easily seduced by the prospect of easy money and a glamorous life. It’s a marked shift from the typical profile of gang recruits in earlier years. The Bishnoi gang, in fact, has more than 700 young operatives across the country, whom it “activates” when needed.

Police say the gang scouts for school and college dropouts, including minor offenders, especially with a record of violence and with a penchant for executing “macho” criminal acts. Some have a taste for weapons and are promised a good life overseas, said a police officer.

A case in point were the alleged hitmen in the shooting of a scrap dealer, “Sachin”, in Rohtak, Haryana, in February 2024. Both the shooters were minors. Police say they had fled from a shelter home in Jaipur a few weeks before they were recruited by Bishnoi gangster Rohit Godara to execute the hit. The two minors shot and killed the target seated in an SUV along with family members outside a restaurant.

Then inspector-general of police Shivdeep Lande, who supervised the arrests, told HT the two minors were spotted at the Rajasthan shelter by another gang member who was also there and found them “talented”. The minors were allegedly hired by Godara via Facebook for the job. While one was paid ₹20,000, the other was promised ₹25,000. They accepted.

“Both were also promised a life overseas where they would be settled with jobs. One of the two accused had a brutal past --- he was involved in two cases of murder with sharp weapons,” Lande said. Both were eventually arrested in March 2024, a month after the killing.

And it’s not just the role of hitman that draws these restless and unemployed youngsters to a life of crime. “When the Bishnoi gang assigns important tasks to juvenile offenders, it spends good money on them, including good clothes and hotel stays, apart from paying them for each job,” Lande said.

Another high-profile crime attributed to the Bishnoi gang is the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala in Mansa district in Punjab in May 2022. One of the alleged shooters was then 18-year-old Ankit Sirsa, who allegedly fired several bullets at the victim after a car chase.

After his arrest a month later, the Delhi police said he had fired with both his hands and was “extremely driven”. Sirsa’s idea of a selfie was posing with a cache of firearms and cartridges.

Police say the reason the Bishnoi gang is able to catch its members young lies in the way it projects itself for promotion and recruitment. The gang is social-media friendly and uses online platforms to promote its criminal activities.

Most importantly, Lawerence Bishnoi himself is something of a poster boy for his own criminal syndicate. Police say photographs of Bishnoi’s visits to court while in custody are splashed across social media, with Instagram and YouTube buzzing with the chants of “Jai Balkari ji”, a slogan synonymous with the mafia boss.

Older photos of him in a hoodie, which frequently pop up on social media, reinforce Bishnoi’s “cool” demeanour and up the gang’s aspirational quotient. “This makes an impression on gullible young minds,” the police officer said.

The Biishnoi gang, run by brothers Lawerence and Anmol, both in Indian jails, has a handful of lieutenants who run the operation from overseas. It is one of the most feared crime syndicates in North India. For a young criminal-in-the-making, being recruited by them is a ticket to quick money, a lavish lifestyle and instant notoriety.