From India's largest newsroom, I'm Arun George, and this is the
Times of India podcast. It was a murder straight.
Out of a film or perhaps will now feature in films.
A former. Minister was leaving his son's
office in the northwest suburb of Bandra in Mumbai in the
night. As he walked out.
Fireworks went off. That wasn't a surprise since it
was the festival of the Sahara, when fireworks are traditionally
set off. Except in this.
Case as the fireworks went off. Three men.
Quickly walked towards the minister and he was shot
multiple times. Bamba Siddiqui's.
Killing in the suburb of Bandra on the night of October 12 made
national headlines. For the audacity with which the
very. Influential and rich Mumbai
politician was murdered. NCP Ajit Pawar Gutkinita Baba
Siddiqi Ki goalie marker. The fact that law and order has
descended to this level in Mumbai is shocking and
condemnable. Rashmi.
Rajput has covered crime in Mumbai for nearly two decades
and writes on crime and central investigating agencies for The
Economic Times. She says that even in a.
City, whose gangland killings have been documented in films
and. Books this.
Was a major incident. She explains why the killing is
such a major concern. It is a major concern because we
are going to the polls, the state goes to the poll on
November 20th and this incident happening just a month before
that kind of raises a lot of questions, especially on its
police, whether there was any kind of Intel input, whether
they were acting on that Intel input and this person was a part
of the incumbent and that is the maximum or the ultimate
insurance anybody could have for their safety.
So Despite that, there was an attack in the broad daylight
during a festival season that raises a lot of questions and it
kind of puts the city police under a lot of scrutiny.
In today's. Episode We're looking at the
seemingly inexplicable murder in the city of Mumbai and why it's
such a worrying. Development Rashmi says that the
killing in Mumbai came just after the city witnessed
multiple security drills or. Potential terror threats ahead
of the. Festive season.
So there was an intelligence input that was shared by the
Intel agencies and they were specifically about a lot of
crowded areas like Zaveri Bazaar where there is maximum footfall.
Therefore there were a lot of mob drills post those Intel
inputs. Siddiqui also claimed he had.
Received death threats. Just 15 days before his death,
he had been provided additional security and even had a Mumbai
police. Official as a bodyguard when he
was killed. Rashmi says that in spite of
these big security drills, this little clarity so far on how
serious the threat. Was against Siddiqui.
Now when in Intel agency it had shared this input, whether there
was any input on Mr. Siddiqui, whether there was any
intelligence by Mumbai police, whether you know Mr. Siddiqui
was on the hit list of the Lawrence Vistoi gang.
So all these are a major concern for the city and for the for its
police and also for the government.
Bamma Siddiqui has been written about extensively post his
death, but here's a quick roundup.
He was in the Congress for decades.
After starting as a student politician, he switched over to
the Ajit Pawar LED faction of the NCP in February 2024.
In the last election he contested in 2014, he declared
financial assets worth ₹76,00,00,000.
However, given his involvement in multiple high profile real
estate deals in the region, his net worth is estimated to be
much more. His importance in the western
suburbs of Mumbai also meant he was close to some of the Hindi
film industry's biggest actors. He's famously credited with
ending what was called a Cold War between Shah Rukh Khan and
Salman Khan at an Iftar nearly a decade ago.
After his killing, multiple Bollywood personalities
expressed shock at the incident. But when we recorded this
episode on the 16th of October, Rashmi said that political
parties in the state didn't seem to be making too much noise
about this incident. So far we've seen that the
opposition parties, they have not raised or not, there's not
much clamour like the way we had when Sushant Singh Rajput
incident happened. Of course, that entire incident
is debated whether it's a case of suicide, mother, etcetera,
etcetera. But you know there was a lot of
voices that kind of asked for justice in this case.
Despite an election which is going to happen next month, you
don't see anyone political, political party or the
opposition asking those tough questions to the government,
asking why did the police fail, How deep is the presence of the
Lawrence Vishnoi gang in Mumbai? What is the state and the Centre
doing to tackle this issue? Despite Mr. Siddiqui having
presence not just in the political circles, he had a huge
presence and lot of friends from the Bollywood fraternity, from
the business fraternity. This person was somebody who had
friendship across various kind of industries and Despite that I
feel that the that the clamour is less.
Maybe I might be wrong, maybe as we progressed before to the
election, maybe this might issue might be raised.
But so far it is the media who is doing the talking, asking the
questions, and we don't see any one political party raising this
issue. By the morning after the
killing, there was already a prime suspect gangster Lawrence
Bishnoi. The gangster, who's originally
from Punjab, is currently lodged in the Sabarmati jail in
Gujarat. His operations were believed to
be limited to states like Delhi and Haryana in the north of
India. Then he was linked to the
killing of Hardeep Singh Niger in Canada.
The killing is at the centre of the diplomatic spat between
India and Canada. Presently, Rashmi says that
while the gangster may enjoin outside reputation, the gangs
operations are much like any other gang that the city has
seen in the past. Lawrence Vishnoi gang is like
any other gang working in Mumbai but it has a very sophisticated
way of functioning. So what it does is that first of
all it hires shooters which who are rookie might not have so
much of criminal records, might do the killing for a few ₹1000
or a few lakh rupees. These are people who are
unemployed, taken from places like UP or Haryana, Rajasthan.
So they come from mostly from non crime background.
They would not have any criminal antecedents.
This would be the first time very young youngsters.
You know one of the shooters in this particular case, he claimed
he was 17 years old. Of course, the Mumbai Police
then shared the record saying that he is 19 years old.
But these are young kids between the age group of 17 to 24 who
are doing this for a few ₹1000 or a few lakh rupees.
Then there is the there are these mid level operators who
are responsible for providing logistical support, for
providing the money to ensure there is a safe haven or there
is a safety home in Mumbai or any other place where they carry
out this particular attack. Provide the weapon like in this
case the person who the police is looking for, Shubham Lonkar.
He is the mid level operative of the gang.
The Vishnu gang made its presence felt in Mumbai after a
shooting outside actor Salman Khan's home in Bandra in April
2024. While no one was hurt and the
alleged gunmen were arrested, it was a bold statement.
Bishnoi threatened to kill Khan in 2018 for the actors role in
killing a black buck in Rajasthan nearly two decades
earlier. Bishnoi claimed it was a
reprisal for targeting the animal that is revered by the
Bishnoi community in Rajasthan. Not surprisingly, it wasn't
taken very seriously, that is, until the April attack.
Siddiqui's killing was also linked to his proximity to
Salman Khan quickly enough. Khans home in Bandra is
presently under high security. We asked Rashmi whether after
these two incidents, the profile of the Lawrence Bishnoy gang has
risen significantly in Mumbai. You spoke about the operations
aspect of it, but in terms of influence in the city, despite
the Salman Khan shooting, does the Lawrence Vishnu going have
any kind of influence within the city in terms of, you know, the
stray extortion events that would happen earlier and things
like that? Is this gang as visible and as
operational in the city? I feel that these two incidents,
the Salman Khan incident and the killing of Mr. Siddiqui, these
two incidents are the incidents that the Vishnoi gang would take
it as their so to say. Report card to to start the.
Extortion racket in Mumbai because so for example, now
after this incident, if there is any extortion call that is made
and the person says he's from the Lawrence Vishnoi gang, the
other party would be scared because you know these people
have been successful in conducting at least 2 firing
attacks. The extortion racket, so to say
in Mumbai which has seen a vacuum on lull in the last
couple of years, especially from the late 2000, it might be kind
of reactivated by the Lawrence Vishnoi gang because they are
trying to be that gang that wants to take over that space.
You have the big business houses here, you have the politicians
here, builders, you have the Bollywood here.
If they want to target Mumbai, they do now have a kind of
background so to say, you know, because they have been covered
vividly by the press. So it is a concern for the
police also because they would like to eliminate this concern
because after the 90s or in the 2000's, the Mumbai police
managed to kind of eradicate the presence of the Dawood gang or
the Chhota Rajan gang. And now with a Lawrence Bishnoi
gang coming in the foray and trying to make its presence
dominant here in Mumbai, that would be something that the
Mumbai Police now will actively look at and try to figure out
the way to kind of, you know, bring them down or ensure that
they arrest this incident. A lot of the Lawrence Vishnui
gangs in cities like Delhi and Gurgaon have mirrored those of
Mumbai gangs. Incidents where threatening
calls are made, a gunman turns up and shoots in an office and
killings are done over unpaid extortion demands are straight
out of the playbook of the Mumbai gangsters.
The gangsters and underworld of Mumbai have been dissected in
great detail over the decades. The stories of Dawood Ibrahim
and Sadashiv Nikhalje, better known as Chhotarajan, have been
the stuff of many reports, books and films.
At one time, the gangsters would even give interviews to select
journalists to claim or disclaim their role in attacks.
Rashmi has seen the gangs operations evolve over the
decades and since the gangs had begun changing what they focused
on around the 2000s. In the 90s, it was the Daoud
gang or the Chhota Rajan gang which was responsible for all
those extortion calls all all the murders that happened on the
streets of Mumbai. Subsequently, the Mumbai Police
came with this ingenious idea of.
Having an encounter squad, they were the one who carrying all
these. Various encounters, but they
kind of so to, so to say, help in cleansing the system brought
Mumbai back in terms of getting this cleared out.
But then even the gang started changing the business courses.
You know, no more extortion was the main business.
Even if you see the Daoud Ibrahim gang or the Chota Rajan
gang then moved into other businesses like drugs or betting
or even for that matter if they wanted to do extortion, it was
not limited to Bollywood. It was then being the one
carrying out the projects on behest of certain builders.
This was very organized, a syndicated mafia where you had
certain builders having links to certain groups and they were the
one who were doing the development or redevelopment
projects in Mumbai. So, so I would say from the 90s
to the 2000, it kind of change into they kind of had a very
organized way of conducting their crimes.
And then you found this, especially the Dowdy Brian gang,
the D gang, metamorphosizing and getting into terrorist acts.
Rashmi said the criminal underworld of Mumbai no longer
believes in dealing in extortion calls which put them and their
operations in the cross hairs of the law.
Like any enterprise, they've diversified into activities that
yield more. At lower risk?
The gangs are there, it's not that they have gone but they are
doing different kind of activities.
The online betting is a business that runs into 10,000 crores.
If you see that being the proceeds of crime, who are the
people who are helping them, providing the hawala operators
or providing the people who are required in the dark web to
conduct these operations. These are people from the
underworld. Therefore we don't see them
doing shootouts or you know dirtying the streets with blood.
But the businesses have changed and money has moved from other
to other businesses like drugs or online betting which makes
more money and more lucrative businesses for these gang
operations. Rashmi says that in the case of
the Bishnui gang, they have shown that they can operate in a
very organized manner even in a city like Mumbai, a place that
they're not considered to have too much influence.
For example, in the Salman Khan case, what we understood during
the course of the investigation that there was not just one
particular model so to say that was working on this.
There was actually another model which was which was stationed
near his farmhouse in Panvel. And they were the one also
wrecking his house in Panvel and trying to figure out when does
that actor visit that home and what are his movements and all
that. So if suppose this particular
model which was supposed to carry out about the operations
at the Bandra home fail, then it was the Panvel model that would
conduct the operations and none of the models were aware about
each other. But Rashmi also points out that
even the so-called sophistication of the gang is
straight out of a playbook that has been used by gangsters for
decades in the city. Say that this is the first of
its kind where a gang is so sophisticated, organized.
I don't think so. That would be right because even
the Dawood gang is very sophisticated in its approach.
When it had its own shooters, it had its own people who would
manage the operations might who are the people who are arranging
for the finances. And then of course you had
people in the Dawood Ibrahim gang, that is the Dawood Ibrahim
Chota Shakeel. They were the one who were
taking calls on who their target was.
So in that way, it is like a pyramid structure where one
person is taking all the calls and then the responsibilities
are divided. Now, of course, because you
know, technology has also been helpful to these people in
managing the operation. Like for example in the case of
the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, what we hear from a sources is that
most of these operations are queried.
By Lawrence Bishnoi from his Sabarmati jail, where he's
launched. In terms of gangs, have you ever
had a gang leader, so to say, who is sitting in jail and at
the same time said to be running operations?
Yeah, across the country. We do.
We did have Chota Rajan. We still still find some cases
where we with some call or something being made.
The larger question is why are they managing to operate and
they're doing operations in India?
Why are the agencies here not taking action against them?
I think so. That is the bigger question to
ask. For now, the Mumbai Police are
still trying to figure out why the killing of Baba Siddiqui
took. Place.
But they may as well be in Canada when it comes to getting
access to Lawrence Bishnoi. Despite knowing exactly where
the head of the gang is, they're unable to get his custody.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has passed an order preventing
Bishnoi, who's also accused of helping plan the murder in
Canada, from being taken out of the Sabermati jail in Gujarat
for any reason. Rashmi says that puts a spoke in
the wheel of the Mumbai Police that would like to.
Limit the rise. Of Lawrence Bishnoi in the city.
Even the Mumbai Police are struggling to even get the.
Custody or to question Lawrence Bishnoi in Sabar Mati who start
launched Sabar Mati jail. So that's a very unique.
Position that the police is in because post the incident of a
shooting at the actors residence.
The Mumbai police did make attempts to question Lawrence
Bishnoi Sabarmati jail. But there is a particular
section under the Code of Criminal procedure that has been
cited and that is the reason why the police is not able to
question. Of course, the Mumbai police
will make a fresh attempt. But when you are not able to go
to the person who's responsible to carrying out, who's able to
manage operations or to say from jail and his operatives are
functioning and there are people who are loyal to him.
And if you're not able to figure out how is this functioning and
question the main person, then it is a bit difficult and tricky
also for the city police to then kind of rein in the operations.
Today's episode was produced by Jayaraj Singh and Sahil Gupta.
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