The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested an associate of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi for allegedly harbouring those who had carried out a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on the Intelligence headquarters of the Punjab Police in Mohali last year.
The accused, Vikas Singh, is a resident of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. He had harboured Deepak Surakhpur and Divyanshu from Faizabad, who executed the RPG attack in May 2022, said the agency. The agency arrested him on Tuesday.
During interrogation, the accused disclosed that the assailants had stayed several times in his house in the Devgarh village of Ayodhya and his flat in Lucknow. “Vikas Singh is accused in 10 criminal cases for the offences of murder, attempt to murder, Arms Act and Gangster Act,” said the NIA.
As it turned out, Deepak was introduced to Vikas by Vicky Midhukhera, another associate and friend of Lawrence Bishnoi. “Vikas had connected Divyanshu, already known to him, to the Lawrence Bishnoi syndicate. The two were also involved in numerous targeted/contract killings, including that of businessman Sanjay Biyani in Nanded and Rana Kandhowalia in Punjab,” it said.
According to the agency, Vikas also harboured another accused named Rinku after Rana Kandowalia’s murder. In the beginning of 2020, after a double-murder executed in Chandigarh at the instance of Lawrence Bishnoi, suspects Monu Dagar, Pradhan, Cheema and Rajan were in Lucknow with Vikas.
The NIA alleged that Vikas had also been giving shelter to members of other gangs, including two from Madhya Pradesh.
The instant case is related to the conspiracy hatched by members of the Lawrence Bishnoi-linked gangs based in India and abroad, to raise funds and recruit the youth to carry out terror acts in Delhi and other parts of the country. Some of the masterminds were operating from inside the prisons.
“The NIA has already established the involvement of the terror syndicate in several sensational cases, including the targeted killing of Pradeep Kumar, a Dera Sacha Sauda follower in 2022, and the killing of Raju Thehth in Sikar, Rajasthan, besides the murder of famous Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala and the RPG attack in Punjab...,” it said, adding that 15 accused had been arrested so far.
The agency has filed chargesheets against 14 persons including Lawrence Bishnoi, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, and Satwinder aka Goldy Brar.
