Lawrence Bishnoi’s Journey from classroom to crime

Notorious criminal Lawrence Bishnoi, who is allegedly linked to the murder of Punjabi singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, in police custody

Lawrence Bishnoi was born on February 12, 1993, in Ferozepur, Panjab, to a wealthy family. His father, a former police constable, became a farmer after leaving the police force in 1997. Bishnoi was a disciplined child who enjoyed studies, toys, and sports. He completed his education until the 12th grade in Abohar in 2010, then moved to Chandigarh to attend DAV College.

Lawrence Bishnoi in College

DAV College Chandigarh was founded in 1958

It was at the DAV College that Bishnoi’s journey towards crimedom began. In the college, Bishnoi met “Goldy Brar” and the two hit it off. They formed a students’ union in the college and began to indulge in petty crimes. It is alleged that around 2010, Bishnoi opened fire in the college to establish his dominance over the institution.

In 2011, he was nominated as president of Students Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) his college, marking the beginning of his political career, which remained enmeshed with his criminal activities. He went on to contest the election of President of Students Union of Panjab University (SUPU). In this campaign, he was assisted by Goldy Brar. Despite aggressive campaigning, Bishnoi lost the elections. Unable to digest the electoral setback, Bishnoi and his aides attacked the winning candidate.

This led to Bishnoi’s arrest on charges of attempted murder. However, five years later, Bishnoi and his friends were acquitted by a local court which severely reprimanded the prosecution for poor handling of the case.

The Journey from Classroom to Crime

FIR was filed against Lawrence Bishnoi for extortion and provoking communal riots. On January 17, 2015 (Photo: PTI)

But by then Bishnoi had become deeply entangled with the world of crime. In 2011, a financier was robbed in Firozepur, Punjab, and Lawrence Bishnoi’s name cropped up again, but no case was registered.

On August 12, 2012, another FIR was filed against Lawrence Bishnoi for extortion and provoking communal riots. On January 17, 2015, he escaped police custody while being taken to the Punjab and Haryana High Court for a hearing in Chandigarh.

He allegedly fled to Nepal and acquired a large cache of automatic weapons and bulletproof jackets. He was finally arrested by police on March 4, 2015 and imprisoned. However, it is said that Bishnoi continued to run his gang from inside the jail, using mobile phones to contact and kill, extort, and threaten people.

Threatening Bollywood Star Salman Khan

Leading actor Salman Khan

One of the most  high-profile instances of Bishnoi’s operation came in 2018 when he threatened Bollywood star Salman Khan. “When I will act, Salman Khan will be killed here in Jodhpur. I haven’t done anything yet,” Bishnoi proclaimed to the media on January 6, 2018, while he was being taken to a jail in Jodhpur.

He repeated the threat again more recently, on March 17,2023 , when he told ABP News, a television channel, that he wanted to kill Khan. “The motive of my life is to kill Salman Khan. Only that and nothing else,’’ Bishnoi said.

He said that he wanted to kill the star due to an incident when Khan was accused of hunting blackbuck deer. The Bishnoi community considers animals sacred and believes that deer are essential to life in forests and the environment. In 1998, Salman Khan and his co-actors were accused of hunting two blackbucks, a protected species, while they were shooting a movie in Rajasthan.

The Bishnoi community filed a case against Salman Khan, and he was eventually convicted in 2018. Bishnoi says that since he was four years old, he has harboured a deep-seated hatred for Salman Khan. “I will not kill Salman Khan on the condition that he visits the Bishnoi community temple and offers an apology to the entire Bishnoi community for the killing of the sacred blackbuck,” he said in a recent interview.

 Killing of Sidhu Moose Wala

Sidhu Moose Wala, a popular singer with a significant fan following, was tragically shot and killed on Sunday, May 29, 2023, at Mansa district in Punjab. It is  alleged that Moosewala was murdered due to a longstanding gang rivalry. Bishnoi’s aide, Goldy Brar or Satinderjit Singh, a Canada-based gangster, has claimed responsibility for the killing on behalf of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

Goldy Brar allegedly tweeted this but the tweet is no longer available. The screenshot is taken from Indiatoday

A leading newschannel claimed, but without furnishing any evidence, that Bishnoi had been planning Moosewala’s murder since 2021, following the killing of Vicky Middukhera, Bishnoi’s close associate. It is alleged that Middukhera, who was shot dead in broad daylight in Mohali in Punjab on August 7, 2021, was killed at the instance of Shaganpreet, Sidhu Moose Wala’s manager. Bishnoi’s gang believed that Shaganpreet was shielding Moosewala, which prompted them to carry out the attack.