In a major breakthrough, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on July 25 arrested an alleged key aide of notorious jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi immediately after his deportation from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to India. He was wanted in at least 11 criminal cases, including that of popular singer Sidhu Moosewala’s murder.
An NIA team had gone to the UAE to facilitate the deportation of accused Vikramjeet Singh aka Vikram Brar and bring him back. “Besides the targeted killings of innocent people/businessmen, he was involved in cases of smuggling of weapons and extortion in India with the help of dreaded gangsters, Bishnoi, Goldy Brar [based in Canada] and others,” said the agency.
Absconding since 2020, Vikam Brar was wanted in cases of murder, attempt to murder, extortion and other crimes under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Arms Act. In all, 11 look-out notices had been issued against him by the competent authority on the request of the police from various States, including Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi.
Communications control room
It is alleged that Vikram Brar was running a “communications control room [CCR]” for the Bishnoi syndicate from the UAE. It facilitated calls of Bishnoi and Goldy Brar and on their directions, he also made extortion calls to various people. The CCR also enabled calls of main gang leaders with their associates.
An NIA special court in Delhi had earlier issued an open-dated non bailable warrant of arrest against Vikram Brar. Along with 13 co-accused, he was chargesheeted on March 24, 2022, by the agency in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the IPC.
During 2020-2022, the accused had helped Goldy Brar in executing the killing of Moosewala. On several occasions, Bishnoi had sent extorted money to him through “hawala” channels. In one case, Vikram Brar had demanded extortion money from a doctor in Kurukshetra (Haryana) and also threatened him.
The NIA said its probe revealed that before he came close to Bishnoi, Vikram Brar had links with the Students Organisation of Panjab University in Punjab University. “Along with other associates, he actively participated in various crimes like murder, attempt to murder and extortions, etc. He had been assisting/facilitating the Lawrence Bishnoi gang in targeted killings and extortions in Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. He was also providing logistic support to the gang members,” it alleged.
The NIA has so far arrested 16 persons in the terror-gangster conspiracy case. In the recent months, the agency has got five “wanted” absconders either deported or extradited to India, in close coordination with the Central intelligence agencies and persistent follow-up with the authorities concerned in the foreign countries, it said.
Bikramjit Singh, the alleged mastermind of Tarn Taran bomb blasts, was extradited from Austria in December 2022. “This was the first extradition case of its kind from a western country. Prior to this, the only other extradition since the setting up of the NIA was that of Wuthikorn Naruenartwanich aka Willy in December 2015 from Thailand,” said the agency.
The other deported accused are Kulwinderjit Singh of the Babbar Khalsa International, Harpreet Singh alias Happy Malaysia, Parminder Pal Singh and Aboobacker Haji.
