Delhi court remands Lawrence Bishnoi to judicial custody in extortion case

Delhi’s Saket Court remanded gangster Lawrence Bishnoi to judicial custody on Wednesday in an extortion case in South East Delhi’s Sunlight Area.

He was produced before the court after his three-day police custody expired and remanded into judicial custody by the Duty Metropolitan Magistrate at Saket. Bishnoi had also been remanded for ten days starting 1 June under the Delhi police crime branch.

Following his interrogation, the Delhi police had moved an application seeking judicial custody of the gangster. On 11 June, the crime branch sought a four-day extension of remand to grill Bishnoi about another accused Akshay alias Balaji in Ganganagar, Rajasthan. Akshay, who was arrested in Gujarat under the NDPS, allegedly provided arms and ammunition used to threaten victims in the extortion case.

Delhi police said, “Accused Akshay had provided arms and ammunition in the present case and also facilitated the stay of accused Hiren and two Child CCLs ( Child in Conflict with the law) who were allegedly involved in the commission of the crime in the present case.”

The Delhi police are also seeking to gather information regarding an accused named Kapil alias Nandu and understand how the gangster Bishnoi was able to communicate with and direct Akshay despite being in jail. It was also stated that the accused Kapil is outside India and provided the information to the accused Lawrence Bishnoi for the purposes of the execution of the plan.

An investigation is underway to establish sources for the money used to purchase the arms and ammunition and unearth the chain of conspiracy in order to apprehend other members involved in this nexus.

The court also remanded another accused Sampat Nehra to judicial custody till 25 June. Nehra had already spent nine days in police custody. Nehra is a co-accused in the extortion case and was grilled by police about Bishnoi as well as the gang’s operations in Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana. Nehra was produced in front of the court on production warrants from Punjab. He was booked under section 25 of the Arms Act.

The extortion case in question was initially reported by advocate Ramandeep Singh on 24 April in Delhi’s Sunlight Colony, where an FIR was lodged. The case was later transferred to the Crime branch. Singh alleged that he received threatening calls since the night of 23-24 March from an unknown international number. The caller, Singh claimed, had threatened his family and demanded Rs 1 crore. Lawrence was arrested in connection with the case on 31 May.

Meanwhile, the court also granted the accused’s counsel the liberty to talk to the accused for five to 10 minutes every day via audio/video call and for every 30 minutes in-person every alternate day during the entire period of the remand, after submitting written intimation at least 24 hours prior to the proposed time of the meeting.