The title Lawrence Bishnoi has grabbed nationwide headlines but once more, this time over the alleged involvement of his gang within the homicide of three-time former Maharashtra MLA Baba Siddique.
The police suspect that the conspiracy to kill Siddique was hatched in Pune. In accordance with the Mumbai police crime department, accused Pravin Lonkar, arrested from Pune and his brother Shubham Lonkar, who’s on the run, have performed an lively function within the conspiracy to homicide Siddique. The police informed the courtroom that Pravin and Shubham had been related to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Even the boys who allegedly fired at Siddique in Bandra on October 12 had been discovered to be working on the Shri Balaji scrap centre positioned close to the Lonkar dairy operated by Pravin within the Warje space of Pune.
Nevertheless, this was not the primary time that Pune hyperlinks have surfaced in reference to the operations of the Bishnoi gang. In 2022, the brutal killing of Sidhu Moosewala first highlighted the sinister footprint of the dreaded crime syndicate led by Bishnoi in Pune. The darkish legacy of the worldwide gang continues to unfold within the metropolis in reference to Siddique’s homicide.
Pune legal who stayed at Bishnoi’s native place in Punjab
A number of days after Moosewala was murdered in Punjab on Might 29, 2022, allegedly by the Bishnoi gang, names of Pune-based Santosh Jadhav and Siddhesh Kamble alias Mahakal cropped in the course of the police investigation.
The 2 haven’t been arraigned or charge-sheeted within the Moosewala homicide case. However they had been discovered to be lively members of the Bishnoi gang. The Pune rural police arrested Jadhav and Mahakal in June 2022 in reference to the homicide of a legal, Onkar Bankhele alias Ranya. The police stated Bankhele was shot lifeless in broad daylight at Manchar within the Pune district on August 1, 2021.
Through the investigation, the police arrested Mahakal from a location on the Pune-Ahmednagar district border, whereas Jadhav was nabbed from a village close to Mandvi in Gujarat. In accordance with the police, Jadhav used to have distinct curly hair, however he had shaved his head to vary his look to keep away from being recognized whereas he was hiding in Gujrat.
A local of the Pokhari village within the Pune district, Jadhav was a identified legal on police file. He was beforehand booked in a number of circumstances like homicide, try and homicide, and extortion. He was additionally booked below the stringent Maharashtra Management of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
However what shocked the Pune rural police was his affiliation with the Bishnoi gang. They had been additionally discovered to pay attention to the risk issued to actor Salman Khan by the Bishnoi gang. The police suspect that Jadhav developed contact with Vikram Brar, a core member of the Bishnoi gang.
Following the duo’s arrest, the Punjab and Rajasthan Police groups visited Pune to verify their involvement in crimes dedicated in these states. The Pune rural police recovered 13 country-made pistols from Jadhav and his associates. The police stated Jadhav had procured the firearms from Madhya Pradesh utilizing Bishnoi’s connections and allegedly deliberate extortion from a Junnar-based businessman.
Throughout a press convention in June 2022, Abhinav Deshmukh, the then superintendent of Pune rural police, stated, “Whereas on the run in a legal case, Jadhav developed contact with high Bishnoi gang operatives about two-and-a-half years by way of social media. Jadhav additionally stayed at Bishnoi’s native place in Punjab.”
Social media for recruitment, exhibiting off legal hyperlinks
The police raised considerations in regards to the Bishnoi gang’s use of social media to recruit children. A police officer who probed Jadhav and Mahakal and was a part of the group that arrested them stated, “One of the essential and likewise extraordinarily worrying points of those gangs is how they use social media to take advantage of the psyche of younger minds. This modus operandi has been utilized by infamous gangsters like Bishnoi and Durlabh Kashyap and people up to date. These criminals exhibit their actions, weapons, energy and dominance on the social media portals. They even put standing messages earlier than and after committing crimes. This was seen in Bankhele’s homicide in Pune through which we arrested Jadhav and Mahakal.”
The officer stated, “Our probe revealed that Jadhav first got here involved with Bishnoi gang members after being influenced by their social media exercise. Jadhav himself contacted them and confirmed curiosity in becoming a member of them round 2018-19 when he was simply turning 19. Jadhav was recruited as a younger shooter and foot soldier within the Bishnoi gang.”
The police stated whereas creating hyperlinks with Bishnoi, Jadhav additionally fashioned his personal gang in Pune. On the time of Bankhele’s homicide, Jadhav recruited younger assailants and used them for assault.
Now, the police are rigorously looking for Shubham within the Siddique homicide case. He was arrested earlier this 12 months from Pune in reference to a firearms haul within the Akola district.
Following the arrest of two males on January 16, 2024, from Akot in Akola, with possession of two country-made revolvers and 9 cartridges, a police probe revealed that Shubham allegedly provided the firearms. The Akola police then arrested Shubham and his brother Pravin from Bhalekar Wasti within the Warje space of Pune.
Each are natives of the Nevari village in Akot. A courtroom later launched them on bail, after which they got here to Pune. The police suspect that whereas working the Lonkar Dairy in Pune, they targeted on the Bishnoi gang operations.
Someday after Siddique’s homicide, Shubham allegedly put up a social media publish that Siddique was gunned down because of his earlier hyperlinks to Dawood Ibrahim and the demise of Anuj Thappan, one of many accused arrested within the firing outdoors Salman Khan’s residence, who allegedly died by suicide within the lock-up. The publish was deleted inside a couple of minutes.
Sources stated Shubham was exhibiting off his legal hyperlinks. For just a few days up to now, his social media profile image was a screenshot of the tv information of his arrest by the Akola police and hyperlinks with the Bishnoi gang.
The police suspect that Shubham was in direct contact with Bishnoi, who’s at present lodged in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Central Jail. In accordance with police investigations, he made WhatsApp video calls to Bishnoi gang members twice in 2022 and 2023. He additionally obtained WhatsApp audio calls from three worldwide numbers, together with from the gangster’s brother Anmol Bishnoi. The police suspect that he got here involved with the Bishnoi gang round 2018 and is now a mid-level operative of the group.
