NIA arrests key aide of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi

LUCKNOW: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a Lucknow resident from Delhi for his alleged association with jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, an official said.

Vikas Singh, who hails from Gomti Nagar Extension in Lucknow, had allegedly harboured members of the Bishnoi’s terror syndicate, which executed the rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on the Punjab Police’s intelligence headquarters in Mohali in May 2022.

On May 17 this year, the NIA raided three locations in Uttar Pradesh, including Singh’s apartment in Lucknow, as part of search operations carried out by the central agency across six states in connection with cases related to narco-terror-gangster nexus, NIA officials said.

Singh was in hiding since then.

The NIA presented him before a competent court in Delhi and procured his five-day police custody remand to question him further in the matter.

The NIA said in a press statement that Singh had given shelter to Deepak Surakhpur and Divyanshu, who executed the RPG attack, multiple times at two locations: his parental house in Ayodhya’s Devgarh village and his Lucknow apartment.

The statement added Singh was himself booked in 10 cases, which include those of murder and attempt to murder. Some were registered under the Arms Act and the Gangster Act.

The NIA investigation revealed that Surakhpur was introduced to Singh by Bishnoi’s friend and associate Vicky Midhukhera.

Later, Singh introduced Divyanshu, whom he already knew, to Bishnoi’s syndicate. Surakhpur and Divyanshu were reportedly involved in numerous contract killings, including that of businessman Sanjay Biyani in Nanded and one Rana Kandhowalia in Punjab.

The NIA officials said Singh also harboured a suspect in the Rana Kandowalia murder case, Rinku.

Moreover, in early 2020, after a double murder case in Chandigarh (allegedly carried out on the behest of Bishnoi), the assailants Monu Dagar, Cheema and Rajan stayed in Lucknow with Singh.