Mumbai Underworld: Will underworld strike Mumbai again after Baba Siddiqui’s murder? The story of the underworld and the Tang begins in Mumbai in the 1970s. It took the Mumbai police more than three decades to put an end to this. Will that underworld era return to Mumbai? The issue arises because the Mumbai Police and even the National Intelligence Agency have said that the Lawrence Vishnoi gang is currently targeting Mumbai.
Many people were killed in gang wars and encounters
Early 1990s. Mumbai at the time was plagued by underworld and gang wars. By that time Daoud Ibrahim had become a great professor. This was a time when Mumbai then and Mumbai today saw bloodshed almost daily in the name of gang wars or encounters. During this period, an average of 100 to 125 people were killed each year as a result of gang wars or conflicts. Extortion of money is a common thing among Bollywood, builders, bar owners and businessmen big and small. At that time, the Mumbai Police was under pressure from all directions. Under this pressure, the Mumbai police finally decided to eradicate the underworld from Mumbai.
Mumbai encounters over 500 gangsters
Under this, the tradition of the first encounter began, with more than 500 gangsters falling victim to police bullets. Questions have been raised about many of these encounters, but they have also made headlines for many encounter experts. Following this encounter, people felt the need for strict laws to control the underworld, hence laws like the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act, or MCOCA, were proposed. Gradually, all these steps started to pay off. Thousands of gangsters, big and small, are now behind bars. By 2000, Mumbai’s underworld was gradually becoming clean.
This is how the city of Mumbai recovered from the scourge of the underworld.
The last time the Dawood gang (D Company) was involved in a shootout in Mumbai was in November 2002. Gangster Don Arun Gawli’s gang committed the last murder in Mumbai in 2008. The murder of crime generalist J Dey in 2011 was the last murder at the hands of the Chhota Rajan gang. Gangster Ashwin Nayak left the underworld and became a builder. Abu Salim’s gang was disbanded after his arrest in Portugal in 2002. In general, except one or two, all the Imam and his followers were imprisoned. Mumbai has now recovered from the scourge of the underworld.
A group of notorious gangsters were captured
After Dawood’s brother Eqbal Kaskar was deported from Mumbai in 2003, Dawood’s gang also gradually reduced its activities in Mumbai, although not completely. Chhota Rajan was arrested from Bali and taken to Delhi and lodged in Tihar, where he is serving a life sentence. Abu Salem and Arun Gawli were also sentenced to life imprisonment in separate cases. Gangsters like Bunty Pandey and Ravi Pujari are also behind the jail. Overall, to some extent, Mumbai’s underworld has now been completely destroyed. This was the only reason Lawrence Bishnoi came to Mumbai. There are no hostile gangs ahead. Under such circumstances, it would be much easier for him to prepare land for his gang.
Lawrence gang enters Mumbai underworld
After the death of Baba Siddiqui, the cause of death was not yet known. Most people cannot accept that Baba Siddiqui was murdered to scare Salman Khan. Although the Mumbai police have not confirmed Gang’s involvement in the Baba Siddiqui murder, Gang’s name is being used in the media for the murder due to his association with him. The question that arises is, if Lawrence Gang was really behind the murder of Baba Siddiqui, then why? The reason may not be the one you’re worried about. This means Lawrence Gang has arrived in the Mumbai underworld.
Lawrence wants to create a bigger gang than D Company
After the 93 serial bombings in Mumbai, the underworld also split into two parts. One is a patriotic underworld and the other is an anti-national underworld, and with that, the underworld is also divided between Hindus and Muslims. Chhota Rajan was declared a patriotic leader and after 93 blasts, Dawood was declared an anti-national leader. The trend started in early 2000 and has now spread to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang through Chhota Rajan and Dawood. Whenever Lawrence Gang makes any post on social media, he exclusively uses words like Jai Shri Ram and Jai Bharat for this purpose. According to senior police officers who have worked in the underworld, Lawrence wanted his gang to be bigger than D Company. Like D Company, he hopes to push his gang to the international level. That’s why like Dawood he wants his gang to control Mumbai too.
Like Daoud or Abu Salem
In the 1990s, almost most of the police officers who closely observed, dealt with, and then eliminated the underworld have retired. Now, the new batch of police officers don’t have much experience in dealing with issues like organized crime or underworld in Mumbai. Nor did he have any such network of informants. The way Lawrence Gang works has also created problems for the Mumbai Police. In fact, in the 90s, Dawood Ibrahim or Abu Salem used to use this method to call new boys from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai and make them work . Laurence Gunn’s approach is exactly the same. The boys had no criminal records, making it difficult for police to find them.
NIA reveals big news about Lawrence
The NIA, the National Investigation Agency, had recently prepared a dossier on Lawrence and the Lawrence gang. In this file, the NIA also made it clear that Lawrence wanted to build his own network like Company D. Until a decade ago, Lawrence’s gang was restricted to Punjab, according to NIA files. But now it is working with gangs large and small in Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra to create gangs of its own. The Lawrence Gang is not only active in the country, but also in six other countries abroad. They also include Canada, the United States, Azerbaijan, Portugal, the United Arab Emirates and Russia.
All gang leaders report to Lawrence
Apart from Lawrence Bishnoi, there are some special members in his gang who are responsible for different states and countries. Lawrence’s follower Goldie Brar ran gangs in Canada, Punjab and Delhi. Rohit Godara runs gangs in Rajasthan, MP and US. Lawrence’s brother Anmol Bishnoi commands Portugal, Delhi NCR, Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal, while Kala Jatedi manages Hari Gangs in Yana and Uttarakhand. All gang leaders report directly to Lawrence Bishnoi, who is lodged in Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad.
The Lawrence Gang has more than 700 gunmen
According to NIA files, Lawrence Gang currently has more than 700 gunmen, of which up to 300 gunmen are from Punjab. Lawrence’s method of getting gunmen or boys to join his gang was much the same as Abu Salim’s. He never used specific members of his gang to threaten or eliminate his enemies. Instead, he got the job done by paying some money to young boys who didn’t have any criminal records. In many such cases, boys who worked for Lawrence Gang revealed after their arrest that, in addition to money, they were guaranteed immunity from Indian law and settlement abroad after the work was completed.
Lawrence Gang obtains weapons from abroad
Lawrence’s gang of gunmen had no shortage of weapons consignments. According to NIA files, the weapons were smuggled from the Pakistan-Punjab border to the Lawrence gang. Weapons were also brought to the gang from Malwa, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar in Madhya Pradesh, Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh and Munger and Kagaria in Bihar. The files show that apart from India, Gang also received weapons from Pakistan, the United States, Russia, Canada and Nepal.
A phone call became the cause of death
Even though the NIA has this dossier and charge sheet on the Lawrence Gang, the fact is that the Lawrence Gang continues to grow even though it has been in prison for more than a decade. His status in the underworld is also constantly improving. The reason is that although he is in prison, he is still able to run his gang without hindrance. Living first in Tihar and then in different prisons in Punjab, Lawrence was imprisoned in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Jail for more than a year, but despite this he had no connection with the world outside the prison or Gangs lose contact. It is said that to this day, Lawrence still has a mobile phone in prison. A single call from the same cell phone can mean the difference between someone’s life and death.
Lawrence Bishnoi is lodged in Sabarmati Jail.
A year ago, Lawrence Bishnoi was sent to Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad. In fact, after the murder of Sidhu Musewala, when the Punjab police took him to Punjab for questioning, Lawrence had stated that his life was in danger in Punjab. Lawrence was later shifted to Sabarmati Jail. It was only after entering Sabarmati jail that the Home Ministry issued an order against Lawrence.
The Ministry of Interior has issued a special decree
In fact, the Home Ministry had issued an order under Section 268 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code in 2023 stating that Lawrence Bishnoi shall not be transferred anywhere in the name of investigation or in any other case registered against him . This means that he will continue to remain in Sabarmati Jail. If the police of any state have to interrogate him under any circumstances, then they can interrogate him inside Sabarmati jail after obtaining necessary permission from the court. However, the order is valid until August 2024. But according to sources, the deadline has now been extended. Lawrence was in Tihar Jail in Delhi before going to Sabarmati Jail.
Government decree fails to sever ties with gangs
However, surprisingly, the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued this special order, severing the connection between Lawrence, who was sitting outside, and his gang. To date, the connection has not been broken. Otherwise, even if Lawrence and his gang were in jail, they would not be able to take away the betel nut from such a person. Nor can he threaten anyone.
(With inputs from Chirag Gothi and Manisha Jha)
