NIA arrests jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi key aide Vikramjeet Singh on deportation from UAE

New Delhi [India], July 26 (ANI): In a major catch in the terror-gangster-smuggler nexus case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested notorious jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s key aide Vikramjeet Singh alias Vikram Brar, after his deportation from United Arab Emirates (UAE) to India, the agency said on Wednesday.

Brar, involved in the sensational killing of famous Punjabi Singer Shubhdeep Singh alias Sidhu Moosewala, was arrested on Tuesday immediately after his deportation from UAE.
A team from NIA had gone to UAE to facilitate this deportation and bring him back to India.

Brar, who was taken into custody by the NIA, was involved in cases of smuggling of weapons and extortion in India with the help of dreaded gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar and others besides targeted killings of innocent people and businessmen.

Absconding since 2020, Brar was wanted in at least 11 cases of murder, attempt to murder, and extortion under various sections of IPC as well as the Arms Act.

The NIA said 11 Look Out Notices had been issued against Brar by the competent authority on request by various State Police, including Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi.

Brar was operating as a ‘communications control room’ (CCR) for the Lawrence Bishnoi terror gang from the UAE, said the NIA, adding “this CCR was also facilitating calls of Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar (based in Canada) and further upon their directions, he used to make extortion calls to various people.”

Brar’s CCR also enabled calls of main gang leaders with the operatives and members, said the anti-terror agency.

An open-dated Non-Bailable Warrant of Arrest (NBWA) had been issued by the NIA Special Court, Delhi. A Look Out Circular was also issued in the name of the accused, who was chargesheeted on March 24 last year under sections 120B and 384 of the Indian Penal Code, sections 17 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, along with other 13 co-accused.

In 2020-2022, according to NIA investigations, Brar had actively helped Goldy Brar in executing the killing of Moosewala.

“Lawrence Bishnoi had also sent extorted money many times to Brar through hawala channels. Brar had demanded extortion money from a doctor in Kurukshetra (Haryana) and also threatened him,” said the agency.

Before becoming a close associate of Bishnoi, the NIA said, Brar was associated with the Students Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) in Punjab University.

Along with other associates, the NIA said, Brar actively participated in various crimes like murder, attempt to murder and extortion.

“Brar had been assisting and facilitating the Lawrence Bishnoi gang in targetted killings extortions in Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. He was also providing logistic support to the gang members,” NIA said.

The NIA has so far arrested 16 persons in the terror-gangster conspiracy case. “Further investigations into the conspiracy are continuing as part of NIA’s efforts to destroy the growing nexus between terrorists, gangsters and drug smugglers, and to dismantle their infrastructure, including funding channels,” said the NIA.

In recent months, the NIA has been successful at getting five ‘wanted’ absconders, either deported or extradited to India, due to the close coordination with central intelligence agencies and persistent follow-up with the concerned authorities in foreign countries.

Bikramjit Singh alias Bikkar Panjwar alias Bikkar Baba, the mastermind of the Tarn Taran bomb blasts, was successfully 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 alias Willy in December 2015 from Thailand. The other 4 deported accused were wanted for the commission of serious and sensational crimes, such as the Ludhiana Court Complex blast case etc. They included Kulwinderjit Singh alias Khanpuria of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Harpreet Singh alias Happy Malaysia, Parminder Pal Singh alias Bobby and Aboobacker Haji. (ANI)