by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Fly on the Wall

Mystery of Lawrence Bishnoi being holed up in Sabarmati Jail

The case of Lawrence Bishnoi being holed up in the Sabarmati Jail in Gujarat since August 28, 2023 continues to baffle Police & security forces of many states where the B-Gang kingpin is wanted in several criminal cases. In a mysterious move, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), Gujarat police took the custody of Lawrence Bishnoi from Punjab Police in connection with a drug smuggling case. It was in September 2022, when 34 kg of heroin was seized from a Pakistani fishing boat in the Arabian Sea off the Gujarat coast. Though it was a joint operation conducted by the Gujarat Police and the Indian Coast Guard, the case remained with the state police. Lawrence Bishnoi was taken for questioning about his possible links in connection with the drugs worth nearly Rs 195 crore, from a Pakistani fishing boat ‘Al- Tayassa’ in the Arabian Sea off the Gujarat coast in September 2022. Six Pakistani nationals were arrested after the drugs were recovered from the boat. 

It was almost a year after the arrest of these accused, Bishnoi emerged as the person on whose instructions drugs were being smuggled from Pakistan to India. Interestingly, Lawrence Bishnoi had been operating in most of the North Indian states and Maharashtra also. But he had kept away from his extortion and criminal activities from Gujarat. In the instant case, Lawrence Bishnoi was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) (UAPA) Act and taken to Ahmedabad by air and produced before a court on remand. Later, he was shifted to high-security jail in Sabarmati in August 2023.

Bishnoi's Tihar to Sabarmati Yatra via Punjab

Earlier, Bishnoi was lodged in Delhi's infamous Tihar Jail where he was being interrogated in several cases of extortion and conspiracy to kill. It was from here that the Punjab Police took him to Bathinda and later, he was whisked away by the Gujarat ATS. The Gujarat Police linked Bishnoi to Bharat Bhushan alias Bhola Shooter who was a member of his gang. Bhola had died in Gujarat while being in jail in 2021 in the Morbi drug seizure case where he was running a drug network from inside the jail in Punjab. Though Bishnoi's name cropped up in the Morbi case as well, he hogged the limelight long after the Gujarat ATS linked him to the drugs seized from the Pakistani boat and remained in the safe confines of the Sabarmati  jail. The Mumbai Police's repeated attempts from June 2024 to gain Bishnoi's custody has only stumbled into legal roadblocks under Section 268(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) prohibiting transfer of prisoners without the state government's approval. The Gujarat government has refused to transfer Bishnoi outside the state and even the access to interrogate him is also denied. The Union Home Ministry empowered the Gujarat Police under this section to refuse Bishnoi's transfer to any other state. There is also a mystery as to why the Gujarat ATS swung into action in the midst of Bishnoi's interrogation of Bishnoi in connection with threat to businessman Kunal Chhabra who had received an extortion call from the B-Gang. The gang wanted Rs 5 crores from him.

The Bishnoi gang video call to Chhabra dates back to 2023 demanding Rs 5 crores. It is learnt that Chhabra approached Nadir Shah in South Delhi who was also running his own gang. He wanted Nadir to help him and promised him Rs one crore to bail him out. Chhabra is allegedly running illegal call centers and based in Dubai. Nadir Shah did some fixing and an officer of Delhi Police told Bishnoi to back off Chhabra who is willing to pay Rs one crore. At this, Bishnoi told the officer that Chhabra will now have to pay Rs ten crores. Nadir Shah paid the price by losing his life later in a shooting incident.

Will Rahul's gamble pay off ?

After losing Haryana and Jammu, Rahul Gandhi decided to take the command of setting alliances and adjustments in his own hand rather than leaving it to the leadership of concerned states. Even state observers appointed to oversee the poll strategies and related issues by the AICC were virtually made powerless. The same had happened in Madhya Pradesh when Rahul sent observers like Randeep Singh Surjewala and others. But they were too junior to withstand Kamal Nath's aura and personality. Ultimately, the party and Rahul Gandhi paid the price. The same happened in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh too.

Rahul Gandhi changed tack and chose to appoint senior leaders as observers for Jharkhand, Maharashtra Assembly polls such as Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury there. Senior leaders were deputed region-wise. Gehlot and Karnataka Deputy CM G Parameshwara have been assigned Mumbai and Konkan region while Vidarbha region will be handled by former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi (Punjab) and Madhya Pradesh MLA and former minister Umang Singhar. Sachin Pilot and senior Telangana Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy have been deputed to Marathwada region while former Chhattisgarh Deputy CM T S Singhdeo and senior Karnataka Minister MB Patil have been assigned Western Maharashtra. Senior Rajya Sabha MP Syed Nasser Hussain and senior Telangana minister D Anasuya Seethakka have been asked to look after North Maharashtra. Senior leaders Mukul Wasnik and Avinash Pande have been appointed state election senior coordinators. The Congress and BJP are face-to-face in nearly 75 plus Assembly seats in Maharashtra and the fate of the next government hinges on the outcome, say observers.

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Fly on the Wall

Why Diwali is different in Lutyens' Delhi

The Diwali festival is celebrated in world Capitals including the White House in the USA for almost two decades. The Prime Ministers of UK, Australia, Canada and other countries also host guests at their official residences to celebrate Diwali. The Hindu festivals are celebrated with fervour across many western countries. Lately, this culture has started even in several Muslim countries where Diwali parties are held. This pattern started in the late 1990s in the US and the UK particularly after the arrival of PM Atal Behari Vajpayee on the scene. Vajpayee visited the US and held rallies of people of Indian origins and wooed them and took several initiatives to resolve their issues. Vajpayee was affable and jovial too and connected instantly with the people and was taken in high esteem. Diwali was a special festival for him when hundreds lined up to share the spirit of the festival with him in the PMO. He held regular parties with staff on Diwali day and even with other sections. His successor Dr Manmohan Singh who also held the office for ten years, believed in a quieter Diwali. It's a different matter that some Prime Ministers hold Iftar parties regularly. Even a few of the Presidents held Iftar parties at Rashtrapati Bhawan. But times have changed and Diwali or Iftar parties are almost a history. Of course, some of the ministers celebrate festivals they wish to at their official residences.

Modi wrote his own script

The Diwali Festival, most revered for the Hindus across the world, has never been the same in the Lutyens' Delhi after the advent of Modi as Prime Minister in 2014. He wrote his own script even in celebrating the Diwali festival instead of making it a mega event after creating history by winning a majority on his own in three decades by any party. He quietly moved out of the Capital on the day to be with soldiers on the borders. He began a new tradition and started celebrating Diwali with security forces in Siachen in 2014. “From the icy heights of the Siachen Glacier & with the brave Jawans & Officers of the Armed Forces, I wish all of you a Happy Diwali,” he had tweeted at the time. Next year, he chose to visit three memorials in Punjab to honour the successes of the Indian Army in the 1965 war.

In 2016, his Diwali destination was Himachal Pradesh to be with soldiers near the China border. He interacted with men from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Dogra Scouts and the Army at Sumdoh; and made an unplanned stop at a village, Chango. In 2017, Modi visited the Gurez sector in North Kashmir and chose to spend Diwali in Uttarakhand’s Harsil and the iconic Kedarnath Dham. It was the same story in subsequent years when he celebrated Diwali with soldiers in one state after the other. In 2022, he was with soldiers in Kargil and paid tribute to the Army personnel who lost their lives in the 1999 Kargil war and in Lepcha in Himachal Pradesh next year.

Perhaps, 2024 was different in the sense as he celebrated Diwali in the PMO itself on January 22, 2024 sharing photos on X with the caption "Ram Jyoti"; the lighting of diyas is meant to recreate how Ram's subjects welcomed his return after his 14-year exile. He lit the Diyas in the evening at his official residence to celebrate an early Diwali after he led the 'pran pratishtha' of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya in UP in the morning.

Tombs and monuments up for the grab now

A lot more has undergone a change in Lutyens' Delhi; not the Diwali spirit alone. It transpires that India's heritage monuments are gradually being passed over to the private players. Look at the southern gateway of Humayun’s Tomb under the Ministry of Culture’s “Adopt a Heritage” scheme. It's under the monument’s makeover plan that you have not only a restaurant, a ‘vision document’ of the company entrusted with ‘adopting’ the 16th century complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site but also proposes a café atop the western entry gate. The restaurant and the café will be accessed by elevators installed abutting the historical structures. And there’s more: a gaudy sound and light show on the tomb’s western façade; and special events and private dining in the gardens.

When a private player with little experience in conservation came forward to “adopt” the Red Fort in 2018, it was claimed that it would change the entire culture. Since the founder of the company that was given the contract was closely associated with the powers that be, it became an added qualification. In March 2024, the group, an off-shoot of a foundation, was also given by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Humayun’s Tomb, but also the Purana Qila, Safdarjung’s Tomb, and the Mehrauli Archaeological Park. The ASI has signed 19 MoUs with corporate entities, covering more than five dozen monuments across the country, including the Qutub Minar, the Elephanta Caves, and the Sun Temple of Konark. The idea was first floated by the Ministry of Culture scheme to put Delhi’s most renowned monuments in the care of a private foundation to save money from the government. But it ended up in making these monuments places of rich and fine dining clubs.