Photo-collected.
Al Jazeera //

India’s notorious Lawrence Bishnoi gang is involved in the murder of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in 2023. Canadian police claimed this last Monday. The claim came at a time when relations between the two countries hit an unprecedented low this week in the wake of Canada’s fresh allegations of Indian government involvement in the incident. After that, both countries expelled each other’s six diplomats.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is investigating the killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar. They allege that Nijjar’s murder was carried out by a ‘Bishnoi Dal (gang)’ on behalf of India’s intelligence agency ‘RA’.

India’s notorious gang leader Lawrence Bishnoi is currently lodged in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Central Jail. Ahmedabad is a city in Gujarat. It is the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The present Chief Minister of the state belongs to his party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

For these reasons, there has been a renewed interest in Lawrence Bishnoi. There has also been curiosity about how he is running the gang from prison. Despite the historically deep ties between the two democracies, a gang leader has stepped into a serious geopolitical crisis, which is being analyzed.

From Punjab to Mumbai

31-year-old Lawrence Bishnoi first gained national recognition in 2022. On May 29 of that year, Sidhu Muswala, a popular singer of Punjab and a member of the country’s main opposition Congress, was killed. Lawrence’s accomplices claimed responsibility for Muswala’s murder.

Meanwhile, 66-year-old politician and former state minister Baba Siddique was shot dead by an assailant in Mumbai’s elite area of ​​Bandra last Saturday night. Bishnoi gang has also accepted the responsibility of this murder.

Famous Bollywood stars’ relationship with father Siddique is well known. Especially his closeness with actor Salman Khan is quite discussed. An associate of Bishnoi claimed responsibility for killing Siddique in a Facebook post and wrote, ‘We have no enmity with anyone. But whoever supports Salman Khan has a different story….’

Salman Khan’s feud with Bishnoi revolves around an incident nearly 26 years old. In 1998, Salman went on a recreational hunt while shooting a film in Rajasthan. He then hunted two rare species of black deer. The people of the Bishnoi community consider this species of deer very sacred.

In April this year, two members of the Bishnoi gang were arrested in connection with the shooting at Salman’s residence in Mumbai.

Jupinderjit Singh, author of the book ‘Who Killed Muswala?’, told Al-Jazeera that for gang leaders, name (recognition) and fear of name is everything.

This author reviews almost a decade of gang conflict in North India. “Lawrence used to say, ‘I should do something big,'” he said. After killing Muswala, his big task is to attack Salman Khan and now to kill Baba Siddique. These attacks have added brand value to his name. These attacks (as claimed by gangs) are multiplying the amount of extortion and ransom.”

Jupinderjit Singh feels that the Canadian government’s claim that the Bishnoi gang was involved in the killing of a Sikh leader in Canada has already boosted their brand value. According to him, this is a victory for the gang’s mass communication.

Jupinderjit Singh said, in the end, it was Lawrence who won. He is getting the name (recognition) he wanted. People like Lawrence live by guns and they die by guns.

The ‘I’m special’ trend

Lawrence Bishnoi was born in 1993 in the Sikh-majority state of Punjab, bordering Pakistan. Jupinderjit Singh met Lawrence Bishnoi’s post graduate mother Sunita during his research work. He then informed this writer that Bishnoi’s complexion is exceptionally fair, almost rosy. He looks more European than Indian.

The name Lawrence is not so common among the Bishnoi community in North India. The people there named it after being inspired by the name of British educationist and administrator Henry Lawrence. Henry Lawrence worked in Punjab during the colonial period.

Lawrence Bishnoi’s family is in distress. His family owns over 100 acres of agricultural land in Dattaranwali village in Punjab. After high school, Lawrence went to Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab, to study law.

Lawrence got involved in politics while studying at DAV College, Chandigarh. It is said that at that time he got involved in the world of crime. Lawrence also served as the college’s student body president.

At one point, Lawrence was arrested and sent to Chandigarh jail on charges of arson and attempted murder. During this time he met other gang leaders who were imprisoned. They influenced Lawrence.

Jupinderjit Singh, who has researched Lawrence’s rise from college life, says there is a perception in Punjab that gang leaders are born from “well-to-do and well-to-do families”. A common trend is seen in all of them. That is, ‘I am special’.

According to this author, after coming to the cities, these youths encountered ‘an elite and intellectual milieu’ and began to realize that they were no longer landlords. Jupinderjit Singh feels that getting involved in crime in this situation is a way of reasserting their own faith in themselves.

In reference to the Canadian government referring to the Bishnoi gang as ‘agents of India’ due to these backgrounds, Jupinderjit Singh said, ‘I sincerely want this news to be untrue. Because, if this is true, Lawrence will be able to influence a section of the youth, who unfortunately look up to him.’