Delhi court grants transit custody of Lawrence Bishnoi to Gujarat ATS
Darpan News Desk IANS, 24 Apr, 2023 10:30 AM
New Delhi, April 24 (IANS) Delhi's Patiala House Court on Monday granted transit custody of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi to the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in connection with a cross-border smuggling case.
The agency wants to question Bishnoi about any possible ties to Pakistan because it believes there is a chance that his associates are involved in cross-border smuggling of drugs and weapons.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had already zeroed in on Bishnoi for his possible links to anti-Indian elements in Pakistan.
Bishnoi was also involved in cross-border drugs trafficking and a Nigerian woman was working for him, claimed the Gujarat ATS, which now wants to interrogate the gangster in connection with the Al-Tayyasa boat matter in which 38.994 kg heroin worth Rs 194.97 crore was recovered from the Mitha Port in Gujarat.
"Six Pakistani nationals who were on board the boat were held. Later, it was learnt that the consignment was sent for Bishnoi by Pakistan-based handlers under the supervision of a Nigerian woman. Calls were made from Punjab jail. While two of the accused have been interrogated, we want to quiz Bishnoi for which his production warrant is being sought," a source said earlier.
Tens of thousands of farmers assembled there over their demand, including an increase of minimum daily wages to Rs 700 under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA), implementing five-marla plot schemes for Dalits and allotment of the third part of common panchayat land on lease to the community.
The NIA said that it will continue to dismantle such terror networks as well as their funding and support infrastructure. The official said that preliminary investigations revealed that these gangs were carrying out targeted killings and were also raising funds for their criminal activities through smuggling of drugs and weapons.
"An earthquake of magnitude 2.5 occurred 8 km west of New Delhi at around 9.30 p.m. today. The depth of the earthquake was 5 km below the ground," the National Centre for Seismology said in a tweet. Recently, massive earthquakes, which claimed many lives and damaged properties, were witnessed in Indonesia and Nepal.
The troops fired at the drone after they noticed it entered the Indian territory near the Chaharpur village, some 40 km from Amritsar city. The BSF recovered one hexacopter, an unmanned aerial vehicle, in a partial damaged condition along with white-colour polythene tagged with it, a BSF official said.
In a statement here, the SAD President said instead of instilling confidence in people of Punjab by taking appropriate steps, the Chief Minister had fled the state to campaign for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Gujarat along with his cabinet.
These programmes will be held in Jalandhar, SAS Nagar (Mohali), Ludhiana, Moga and Amritsar on December 16, 19, 23, 26 and 30, respectively. NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said issues and complaints of NRI Punjabis will be resolved promptly as well as on the spot during these meetings.
