New Delhi, September 1
The Delhi Police have invoked the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against several gangsters, including those allegedly involved in the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, sources said.
The move comes following directions from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to act tough against the gangsters. Sources said the MHA feared the gangsters were in touch with terror outfits and could execute targeted killings in the country.
Delhi Police officials are learnt to be coordinating with their counterparts in the NIA in these cases. The UAPA had been invoked against Moosewala murder accused Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar and Vikram Brar and also members of their rival gangs, including Davinder Bambiha, Kaushal Chaudhary, Neeraj Bawana, Sunil, alias Tillu Tajpuriya, Dilpreet and Sukhpreet, alias Budha. The list also included absconding terrorist Harvinder Rinda, sources said.
The Delhi Police’s Special Cell had earlier received inputs that members of both gangs were procuring illegal weapons from abroad for targeted killings in Delhi and other parts of the country.
Sources said the police had lodged two FIRs under the UAPA. The first FIR was registered against Lawrence and his associates Goldy, Vikram, Kala Jathedi, Jasdeep Singh, alias Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, Sachin Thapan, Anmol Bishnoi and Lakhbir Singh Landa for running operations from different jails in India as well as from Canada, Dubai and Pakistan. The other FIR was lodged against Bishnoi’s rival gang members — Armenia-based gangster Gaurav Padial, who headed the Davinder Bambiha gang since the latter’s death in an encounter in 2016; Amit Dagar, Kaushal Chaudhary, the alleged conspirators in Akali leader Vikramjit Middukhera’s murder in Mohali; Baba Dhala, alias Gurvinder; Bhupi Rana, Neeraj Bawana and Sunil, alias Tillu Tajpuriya, the sources said.
Sources said the onus was on security agencies to make a foolproof case for extraditing two gangsters wanted in the Moosewala murder case who had been detained abroad. Asked about the extradition, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “One suspect detained in Kenya (Anmol Bishnoi) and other arrested in Azerbaijan (Sachin Thapan Bishnoi).”
The MEA was in contact with the authorities concerned to mull over further legal course that could be adopted, he said.
