The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday arrested Vikramjeet Singh alias Vikram Brar, a key aide of notorious jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, soon after he arrived in India after being deported from the UAE. An NIA team had gone to the UAE to secure his deportation and bring him back to India.
Brar, who was wanted for his involvement in the sensational killing of famous Punjabi singer Shubhdeep Singh alias Sidhu Moosewala, was taken into custody by the NIA. Besides targeted killings of businessmen, he was involved in cases of smuggling of weapons and extortion in India with the help of gangsters Bishnoi, Goldy Brar and others, sources in the NIA said.
Absconding since 2020, Brar was wanted in at least 11 cases of murder, attempt to murder, extortion under various sections of IPC as well as the Arms Act. Eleven lookout notices were issued against him by police in various states including Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi.
According to an NIA official, Brar was operating as a ‘communications control room’ (CCR) for the Bishnoi terror gang from the UAE. This CCR was also facilitating calls of 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 operatives and gang members. An open-non bailable warrant of arrest was issued by the NIA Special Court, Delhi. A lookout circular was also issued in the name of the accused, who was chargesheeted on March 24, 2022 by the NIA in a case under sections 120B and 384 of IPC, section 17 and 18 of the UA(P) Act, 1967, along with other 13 co-accused.
In 2020-2022, according to NIA investigations, Brar had actively helped Goldy Brar in executing the killing of Moosewala. Bishnoi had also sent money many times to Brar through hawala channels. Brar had demanded extortion money from a doctor in Kurukshetra (Haryana) and also threatened him.
Before becoming a close associate of Bishnoi, Brar was associated with the Students Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU). Along with other associates, he actively participated in various crimes like murder, attempt to murder and extortions etc. He had been assisting and facilitating the Bishnoi gang in targeted killings and extortions in Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. He was also providing logistic support to gang members, NIA sources said.
The NIA has so far arrested 16 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.