In a major catch in the terrorist-gangster-smuggler nexus, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday said that they have arrested Vikramjeet Singh alias Vikram Brar, a key aide of notorious jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, immediately after his deportation from the UAE to India.
A team from the NIA went to the UAE to facilitate his deportation and bring him back to India.
Brar was allegedy involved in the sensational killing of famous Punjabi singer Shubhdeep Singh alias Sidhu Moosewala. Besides targeted killings of innocent businessmen, he was involved in cases of smuggling of weapons and extortion in India with the help of dreaded gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar and others.
“Brar was absconding since 2020. He was wanted in at least 11 cases of murder, attempt to murder, extortion under various sections of IPC as well as the Arms Act. 11 Look Out Notices had been issued against him by competent authority on request by various state polices, including Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi,” an NIA official said.
As per the official, Brar was operating as a ‘communications control room’ (CCR) for the Lawrence Bishnoi gang from the UAE. 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/members.
An open-dated Non Bailable Warrant of Arrest (NBWA) had been issued against him by the NIA Special Court, Delhi. The official said that a Look Out Circular (LOC) was also issued in the name of Brar who was chargesheeted on March 24, 2022 by the NIA under sections 120B and 384 of IPC, section 17 & 18 of the UA(P) Act along with other 13 co-accused.
“In 2020-2022, 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 official.
Before becoming a close associate of Bishnoi, Brar was associated with the Students Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) in Punjab University. Along with other associates, he actively participated in various crimes like murder, attempt to murder and extortions etc. He had been assisting/facilitating the Lawrence Bishnoi gang in targetted killings extortions in Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. He was also providing logistic support to the gang members.
The NIA has so far arrested sixteen 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.
In the 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 the foreign countries.
Bikramjit Singh alias Bikkar Panjwar alias Bikkar Baba, the mastermind of 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 four deported accused were wanted for commission of serious and sensational crimes, such as the Ludhiana Court Complex blast case. 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.
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