Hardlook: Roll No. 1800

The man in question is Lawrence Bishnoi. A former student of humanities at the college who could never clear the first year of the three-year graduation course he had got himself enrolled in despite two attempts — the second time he was brought to the examination centre in handcuffs.

Bishnoi is not an easy topic of discussion in DAV-10, as the college is popularly known. It can trigger reactions range from awe to anger and fear to plain aversion.

It was in 2010 when a clean-shaven, medium built Bishnoi, the son of a farmer, entered the campus, after having cleared his senior school from Abohar in Punjab’s Ferozepur district. Though he spoke Punjabi, his dialect was Bagdi, reflecting that his roots lay in nearby Rajasthan.

He couldn’t secure a room in the only male hostel at that time, but that didn’t stop him from spending most of his days and nights in Hostel Number 4 of Panjab University (PU). He also took up an accommodation in Panchkula’s Sector 4. In latter days, these two addresses would frequently find mention in the police files and the multiple FIRs that he garnered indue course of time. The first few months in the college showed nothing that could have given an indication of what future had in store for him or what future he had planned for himself. Though only a first year student, he soon started spreading wings seeking to make mark in the area of student union politics and was named as a candidate for the post of the president of at that time’s influential Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU).

“I remember the day Bishnoi was announced as the SOPU’s campus president of DAV-10, ignoring another student who had been associated with the outfit for a much longer period. Many SOPU leaders from the PU had reached the college to announce his name. The announcement was made outside the college canteen. Bishnoi, dressed sharply in white shirt and black trousers, spoke just a few lines before letting his seniors take over. The memories of this event were refreshed recently when a video of the event went viral on social media, a day after singer-politician Sidhu Moosewala was killed,” said a staff member of physical education department at DAV-10.

Moosewala was shot dead by unidentified assailants at Jawahar ke village in Punjab’s Mansa district on May 29. Punjab DGP VK Bhawra had claimed that prima facie it was an inter-gang rivalry and had said that the Lawrence Bishnoi gang was behind this incident. Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar, who is the member of the Bishnoi gang, had allegedly claimed responsibility for the murder.

With his name propping up in the singer’s murder, by extension, the college’s name too came up in news stories, something that most of its staff here detest.

It was one such question about him that triggered the examination branch official who asked why no one was asking about the Olympic Gold medallst Neeraj Chopra, former India cricketer Yuvraj Singh and Captain Vikram Batra, who made the supreme sacrifice during Kargil war and on whom now a biopic has been made.

“They had studied at our college. They made this college and the country proud. Ask about them. We are tired of questions about Bishnoi. We are tired of handing out photocopies of his educational certificates and his residential addresses. It is very awkward whenever the name of our institute is linked with that notorious man,” the officer told The Indian Express.

Another staff member at the examination branch had earlier told The Indian Express how Bishnoi was always ready for a fight. “He would enter into heated arguments with the staff members. He was so notorious that I still remember his roll number — 1800,” said the staff member.

It’s this notoriety that has kept Bishnoi alive in memories of people despite the fact that he has been in jail since 2015.

A former student who was active in the student politics from 2009-12, says, “There were many others, who were more violent, notorious and aggressive than Bishnoi. But, they changed themselves. Now, some of them are practicing lawyers, some have their own business while some others have secure jobs. He chose a path that ends in jail or with a bullet in chest. He has carried out several criminal activities, but there are instances when he did not do anything but still took credit. This one time there was an incident related to firing by a gun. The trigger was pressed by someone else, but Bishnoi took the credit”.

The first FIR was registered against Bishnoi in April 2010 on charges of attempt to murder followed by another of house trespass. In February 2011, a case of assault and robbery of a cellphone was registered against him. All three cases pertained to student politics. As per the Chandigarh Police records, seven FIRs were filed against Bishnoi in the UT; he has been acquitted in four while trial is pending in three.

A retired police official, who had twice interrogated Bishnoi, said, “He was always eager to do something big, and make a splash.” A wrestling coach who runs an akhara near Sukhna Lake remembers how Bishnoi would visit his centre to practise rope climbing. “He wanted to increase his upper body strength and the rope climbing facility was available only at our akhara at that time. He used to come here with Sampat Nehra, whose father was in the Chandigarh police. Later, Nehra too entered the world of crime,” the wrestling coach said.

On June 2, the Punjab Police interrogated Nehra in connection with the murder of Moosewala. Nehra was brought to Punjab on May 31 on a production warrant from Tihar jail in Delhi. Nehra, on Bishnoi’s directions, had carried out a recce in Mumbai with an intention to eliminate actor Salman Khan. Bishnoi wanted to kill Khan over the actor hunting blackbuck — a deer species considered sacred by Bishnoi community — during a trip to Rajasthan.

A police officer, who was then part of the Crime Branch, recalled that Bishnoi had developed a set of friends in college who were always ready to go out of their way to save him.

There had been some violence among the students in 2010-11 and Bishnoi’s name had cropped up. The police officer said they got information that Bishnoi was present at a rented accommodation in a Group Housing Society in Sector 20, Panchkula. “We raided the premises. There were 15 students in the three room apartment. All of them claimed that Bishnoi had left minutes before we arrived there. It was a crucial lead. We bought all of them to a police building in Sector 11 for further questioning. Moments later, we received a call from the our informer who told us “Paa ji enha vicha hi hai oo (he is among that set of student)”. We changed tact and following brief but strict questioning, Bishnoi emerged from within the rounded up students,” the police officer said.

It was with support that he had from this dedicated set of college friends, who also chose the path of crime, that Bishnoi had managed to escape from the police custody in 2015 while he was being brought from a Ropar jail.

Police officials, who had interrogated him on several occasions, are of the opinion that the name of Bishnoi, who is now believed to be heading a network of hundreds of sharpshooters in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and in some parts of UP, was being promoted according to a well-planned strategy.

“Coming to courts wearing T-shirts depictings religious slogan or with images martyrs, and uploading his photos on social media in Facebook accounts running in his name are all a part of a well-planned strategy. While sitting inside the jail, he is very much aware about the outside world. He was brought to Chandigarh for questioning in the murder case of a property dealer, who belonged to a rival group of Bishnoi, in 2019. We came to conclusion that he was aware about everything which was happening in his name despite being lodged in a solitary barrack in one of Rajasthan’s jails. It wouldn’t have been possible without him communicating with people outside the jail,” a senior Chandigarh Police officer said.

Bishnoi, who is now facing nearly 60 cases, is currently lodged in Central Jail number eight of Tihar. None of the staff members at the DAVC-10 and other officials that The Indian Express spoke to wanted their names to be quoted.