The family of Lawrence Bishnoi, a notorious gangster whose name has emerged in connection with the fatal shooting of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, reportedly spends around ₹40 lakh annually on him, according to a family member.
Ramesh Bishnoi, Lawrence’s 50-year-old cousin, revealed in an interview that the family never expected the 31-year-old law graduate from Panjab University to turn to crime. “We always thought he would pursue a respectable path,” said Ramesh. Lawrence, who hails from a well-off family, continues to receive financial support from them even while imprisoned.
“We’ve always been wealthy. Lawrence’s father was a constable in the Haryana Police and owns 110 acres of land in our village,” Ramesh explained. “He was used to wearing expensive clothes and shoes, and even now, the family spends ₹35-40 lakh every year to support him in jail,” he told *The Daily Guardian*. Ramesh mentioned that he last saw Lawrence a decade ago during a court hearing.
Currently, Lawrence Bishnoi, also known as Balkaran Brar, is being held in Gujarat’s Sabarmati Central Jail. He is under investigation by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for several criminal cases. Following the murder of Siddique outside his son’s office, a public post on social media by Shubham Lonkar claimed responsibility for the attack, which was carried out by the Bishnoi gang.
Investigations revealed that the gang initially assigned the hit to its Maharashtra-based members, who demanded ₹50 lakh for the job. However, the group later withdrew due to disagreements over payment and concerns about Siddique’s political influence, as he was a prominent leader of the NCP.
The NIA has reported that the Bishnoi gang’s operations resemble those of Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company, which rose to prominence in the 1990s. Like D-Company, which began with petty crimes and expanded into drug trafficking, extortion, and organized killings, the Bishnoi gang has rapidly grown its network across northern India. In recent years, the gang has reportedly amassed over 700 shooters, with at least 300 members connected to Punjab alone.
In its investigation, the NIA charged 16 individuals, including Lawrence Bishnoi and his close associate Goldy Brar, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The agency revealed that the gang earned crores of rupees through extortion by 2020-21, funneling the proceeds abroad through illegal hawala channels. The NIA warned that the Bishnoi gang has leveraged social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to glamorize its activities and attract young recruits, mirroring the tactics used by Dawood’s network in earlier decades.
Lawrence Bishnoi’s rapid rise from small-time crime to becoming one of the most feared criminals in North India highlights the growing challenge of organized crime in the region. Authorities remain focused on dismantling the gang’s network and curbing its influence.
