Two men. A common beginning, a common story, and two different paths. Notorious gangsters Arshdeep and Lawrence, who grabbed the headlines recently, may stand far apart today but their stories are inseparable.
Arshdeep Singh Gill alias Arsh Dalla is 27 years old. He was declared a terrorist by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in January last year and has 70 cases registered against him in India, ranging from extortion to terrorism. On October 29, he was detained by the Canadian police.
Lawrence Bishnoi is 31 years old. With an alleged criminal empire of 700 operatives, he has shed his gangster image to become an icon of judicial power and vigilante justice. Lawrence is currently lodged in Sabarmati Jail and has 84 cases registered against him across India, ranging from murder to extortion and terrorism.
His name has popped up in several recent high-profile murders, such as the killing of popular Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala on June 6, 2022. His “gang members” were also involved in the shooting outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s house – years later. Later in 1999, the Bishnoi community allegedly hunted and killed the black deer, which is considered sacred. His gang is also responsible, police said. On October 12, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former minister Baba Siddiqui, 66, was murdered in Mumbai.
Dalla’s operatives committed crimes on his orders, including the murder of Moga businessman Jitendra alias Pinka in 2020.
The NIA had filed separate chargesheets against Lawrence and Dalla in March last year in terror-related cases.
the beginning
Born as Balkaran Brar in Fazilka district in 1993, Lawrence’s father was a constable in the Haryana Police. A police officer said, “Lawrence comes from a well-to-do family that owns around 100 acres of land.” He completed his primary education from Abohar, before moving to Chandigarh for his graduation in 2010.
According to the NIA charge sheet, Lawrence first took up law in 2008 when he was a law student at Punjab University.
His police dossier shows that 18 of the 84 cases registered against him were filed while he was in college, where he was part of the Students’ Union of Punjab University (SOPU). While involved in the organization, Lawrence came in contact with gangsters Sampat Nehra, Birendra Pratap Singh alias Kala Rana, Satwinderjit Singh alias Goldie Brar and Amandeep Multani, who now head their operations.
“While campaigning for a candidate for the student body elections in 2008, he and his friends got into a fight with students from rival factions,” said an official.
Five days later, Lawrence and seven others set fire to the car of a campaigner for a rival candidate. “He and his friends were arrested in 10 days. In jail, he met arms supplier Ranjit Dupla, who currently runs a transport business in the US. Both introduced each other to their criminal acquaintances,” the official said.
In 2013, Bishnoi allegedly ran away after killing an opponent of a candidate he supported in the SOPU elections. He was arrested in 2014 from Rajasthan. However, he escaped from police custody when he appeared in court in 2015. He was arrested again later that year in Fazilka, Punjab.
After 2015, Lawrence’s notoriety grew as he ran his criminal empire from behind bars.
According to a police official, his entry and expansion in Delhi began when he allied with other ‘traditional’ Delhi gangs, many of which have their key figures locked up as well.
Dalla, on the other hand, started off as a small-time gangster in Moga, Punjab before fleeing to Canada in 2018. There, he came in contact with Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar and started collaborating with him.
According to the NIA, Dalla used his contacts in Punjab to form a “terrorist gang”. “He along with Nijjar raised funds through extortion and targeted killings of traders and leaders of specific communities in Punjab,” the NIA claimed.
Investigation revealed that Dalla allegedly operated his syndicate from his base in Surrey, Canada, where he lived with his wife and minor daughter. Police said his network, which allegedly included his father Charanjit Singh and brother Baldeep, thrived on extortion, arms smuggling and targeted killings, with victims ranging from petty traders to prominent figures in Punjab and Canada.
The NIA also said there was a conflict between the Dalla and Bishnoi gangs, which reportedly escalated in December 2023 after several Indian-origin business owners in Canada began reporting extortion calls and threats.
Forming allies
According to sources, “local gangs, including those from Delhi, joined these rival syndicates to survive and expand their sphere of influence.
For example, the NIA alleged that Lawrence was in league with gangsters Kala Jathedi (to expand into southern Haryana), Virendra Pratap (to expand into Chandigarh) and Jitendra Gogi (to expand into Delhi).
According to police officials, he later joined gangster Hashim Baba when he was found in Tihar Jail in 2021. The foot soldiers for his gang are mainly organized by the Gogi and Baba gangs. According to Delhi Police officials, both Baba and Gogi (now deceased) were notorious Delhi gangsters and had run their own operations before joining Lawrence.
Recently, the jailed Baba claimed in a “judicial confession” that Lawrence had ordered the killing of Delhi gym owner Nadir Shah in Greater Kailash in June this year.
According to the NIA chargesheet, Dalla’s alliance partners in Delhi include the Bambiha gang led by Kaushal Chaudhary and Amit Dagar, the Bawana gang led by Neeraj Bawana, Tillu Tajpuria and Himanshu Bhau. The NIA chargesheet said that after Davinder Bambiha’s death in 2016, Kaushal took over the reins of the gang and developed direct links with Dalla.
Delhi Police said the glorification of names like Lawrence Bishnoi in popular culture and social media has created more fear in Delhi. “Northeast and outskirts of Delhi have always been prone to shootings and extortions, and that is a problem. But once Lawrence Bishnoi’s name is associated with these incidents, they sound more dangerous than they actually are,” said a police officer.
An officer interrogating Bishnoi in 2021 said that it is not him alone but the network supporting him outside the country that is the real threat. “Lawrence has been owning the murder since 2015. His role is limited to phone calls. A phone was found under his bunk bed when he was transferred from Bharatpur Jail in 2020. He also visited the temple weekly, from where he used to call Berar and other members. He went alone and never once to anyone. They did not shoot,’ said the police officer.
“He (Lawrence) threatened Salman Khan when he appeared in the Jodhpur court. He used it to identify himself as a gangster while in jail. It is his supply of money from Canada and his fame on social media that has linked local gangs to him in Delhi.”
‘Operates like Mumbai’s underworld’
Sources said there are similarities in the way Dalla and Lawrence work: Although they are viewed differently by law enforcement, they have “a lot in common.” Sources said, both of them have a similar modus operandi: operate like Mumbai’s notorious underworld and involve Delhi gangs in their criminal syndicates.
According to the NIA’s charge sheet against the two, the syndicate members formed a symbiotic relationship with terror outfits working on behalf of Khalistan to procure sophisticated weapons.
“The (Vishnoi) syndicate is trying to relocate its key members and executors abroad… with the help of ‘pro-Khalistan elements’ who are well settled in various countries of the world. This created a symbiotic terrorist-gangster network between gangsters and pro-Khalistan elements that targeted Satisfies the need of shooters to carry out killings, who in return receive sophisticated weapons from across the border,” the chargesheet against Vishnoi alleged.
Similarly, in the charge sheet against Dalla, it is alleged that he is associated with the Khalistan Tiger Force, which works against India’s territorial integrity.
In the third and most recent charge sheet filed in the case against Lawrence, the NIA claimed that Darmanjot Singh (co-accused in the case against Vishnoi) was a “key link” between Canada-based Lakhbir Singh (absconder) – an alleged operator. Banned terrorist organization Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and syndicate of Bishnois. It is said that Darmanjot is involved in criminal activities including smuggling of arms, explosives and drugs across the border.
The rise of these syndicates, the chargesheet claims, coincided with the rise of the Mumbai underworld in the 90s. In fact, the charge sheet against Dalla alleges that his syndicate “operates in exact parallel with Mumbai’s underworld, which initially carried out criminal activities like murders, shootings of important personalities and businessmen, kidnapping, extortion, land grabbing etc”.
In the charge sheet against Lawrence, the NIA alleged that his rise had a lot in common with the rise of Dawood Ibrahim, who became part of a local organized crime syndicate and later created his own gang known as D-Company.
The Bishnoi and Dalla syndicates, the NIA alleged, used social media to publicize their crimes to influence youth to join them and “create widespread panic among the public”. Besides money and clothes, syndicate leaders offered tickets to Canada to entice new recruits to join them, the agency claimed.
As most of the associates of the syndicate are either abroad or in jail, the operatives of the syndicate aim to “bring sophisticated weapons from across the border with the help of Khalistani associates”.
“Anonymity” was also key, the NIA said while describing the syndicates’ modus operandi. One gang member reportedly only knew the person above him in the hierarchy – a way to ensure other members remained safe.
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