Bishnoi Must Be Stopped. Dawood Operating From Pakistan is Humiliating Enough

A thorough investigation of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang’s connections to Canada is also in order.

Lawrence Bishnoi being produced in a local court in Punjab's Bathinda in 2022.

(Photo: PTI)

The citizens of Mumbai are shaken by the recent murder of a popular political leader, Baba Siddique. The sheer impunity with which the crime was committed, right under the police's nose, reminds one of the crime syndicates of the 1980s and 1990s who used to operate in the megapolis and terrorise the people.

Their extortion calls would occasionally be followed by firing in the air to scare their victim in case payments were delayed. And then murder would if the demands weren't met. All of this would cause intense fear and anxiety among the general public.

It had come to such an impasse that industrialists and business tycoons would pay up instead of informing the police. Bollywood, steeped deep in black money, fell into the trap of organised crime more than any other industry.

Gangsters called the shots on who would produce a movie, direct it or act therein. Film events abroad were managed by them, with the best of actors and actresses at their call. Mumbaikars were afraid of celebrating festivals or organising lavish weddings as extortion calls would invariably follow. Such was the supremacy of the Mafia.

Extortion Calls and Land

Starting from bootlegging, gambling and smuggling, the gangs later entered real estate. Settling financial disputes, along with political and business rivalries, also became good sources of income.

Extortion calls, meanwhile, were generating quick income and became so common that one time we arrested a criminal who was not affiliated with any gang but was making these phone calls to renowned doctors. None of the worthy doctors had reported these ‘demands’ to us, which we had traced through technological surveillance following due procedure.

Those were the dark days for the police and the citizens of Mumbai. The firing outside actor Salman Khan’s house and the Siddique murder have made them wonder if the old times of Mafia Raj are back.

Crime syndicates of the past had grown formidable for many reasons, the most prominent being the political patronage that most of them received. Gang leaders were shrewd enough to develop relationships with powerful politicians of the time. The latter needed them to settle scores with their rivals or to help have business tycoons associated with them.

Land disputes, taking decades to be decided in civil courts, started getting settled through these syndicates. And slowly, the thin line between law enforcement and the illegal administration vanished.

MCOC Act

That is when the state enacted the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act 1999 (MCOC), a special law to deal with organised crime. It was a legitimate response aimed at replacing ‘encounters’ that had been resorted to by many police officers.

Crime syndicates were identified after a proper investigation of their illegal activities. Prosecutions followed in special MCOC courts created to deal with gangs.

The crime branch in Mumbai took the lead. One example would be a case that involved two well-known businessmen, JM Joshi of Goa Pan Masala and Rasiklal Dhariwal of Manikchand Gutkha, who took the help of the Pakistan-based gangster Dawood Ibrahim to settle their business dispute.

The information, when it reached us, was ‘stale’ as the incident had taken place years before the informant dared to approach the crime branch in 2004. The officer who brought the informant was one of the famous ones who we, unfortunately, lost during the 26 November terror attack in Mumbai.

We debated a lot before recording the case and wondered how to explain the delay in registering the first information report. There was another apprehension. Was the crime branch being ‘used’ by vested interests? The case, investigated by the crime branch in Mumbai, was later transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

In January 2023, the accused were finally convicted. That a case involving dreaded gangsters is decided nearly two decades after registration under the MCOC Act shows the sad state of affairs. Citizens start doubting the very intentions of lawmakers in fighting organised crime.

As it is, the people are very scared to come forward and complain against crime syndicates or depose against them in courts. Witness protection programs are still at a nascent stage. This too has led to a low conviction rate for organised crime.

Bishnoi is a Threat Despite Lodged in Jail

If India, and especially Mumbai, does not want a repeat of the dominance of violent gangs, then we need a multi-pronged strategy. We need to invest in technology for police and forensic laboratories and create more special courts for the quick disposal of cases against crime syndicates. Prompt trials with convictions of gangsters would encourage citizens to report crimes in time and give evidence in court.

The Lawrence Bishnoi gang, alleged to be involved in Baba Siddique's murder, must be stopped now before it crosses the threshold of being a menace to public safety.

If, while being in prison for about ten years, he can orchestrate the murder of renowned Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala, the firing at Salman Khan’s house and the murder of Baba Siddique, then he is still very much a threat to the nation, despite being physically out of action.

The order of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) under section 268 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CRPC)/ section 303 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), restricting state police organisations to move Bishnoi out of Sabarmati jail needs to be reconsidered. Concrete action against his foot soldiers and other developing crime syndicates is essential.

A thorough investigation of the Bishnoi gang’s connections to Canada is also in order. Dawood Ibrahim operating from Pakistan is enough of an embarrassment to the government and a repeat in Canada shall be mortifying.

Well-coordinated action by states and the central government can ensure that further violence by crime syndicates is prevented. A safe and secure environment is essential for the all-round progress of the country.

(Meeran Chadha Borwankar, IPS, was chief of the Crime Branch, Mumbai. Views are personal.)