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Chandigarh: Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Monday alleged that he received a death threat on his phone from a US mobile number, with the sender claiming affiliation to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. The threatening message—written in Punjabi—also named Balkaur Singh, father of slain singer Sidhu Moosewala; singer Mankirat Aulakh; human rights activist Gurmeet Bablu; and liquor businessman Aman Jaintipur, who had previously survived an attack.
The message warned the named individuals to “be ready for a rebirth”, adding that they could increase their security “as much as they want”, but would still be punished “in a way that generations will remember. Randhawa said the message reached him around 1 pm on Monday.
The Congress MP claimed he has repeatedly flagged such threats in the past. “I have apprised the DGP earlier too about threats to me and my son from gangsters, but nothing has been done,” he said. Randhawa added that he had lodged written complaints against Batala SSP Suhail Qasim Mir and Dera Baba Nanak DSP, alleging they were “hand in glove with gangsters”, but no action followed.
Pointing to the recent Tarn Taran bypoll, where the SAD fielded the brother of an alleged gangster, he said: “When gangsters can openly get their family members to contest elections, the law and order situation in Punjab becomes self-explanatory.”
A senior Punjab Police officer said the threat message is being analysed to verify whether it indeed originates from the Bishnoi network. “Past threats to Randhawa have come from gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria. Also, the Lawrence Bishnoi gang has no known rivalry with the human rights activist or the liquor businessman mentioned. Verification is essential,” the officer said.
Randhawa Flags National Security Concerns in Letter to Amit Shah
Alongside filing an official complaint, Randhawa has written a detailed letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, warning that Punjab’s evolving “gangster–extortion–narcotics–cross-border facilitation nexus” poses “clear national security concerns” in a sensitive border state.
He urged the creation of an MHA-led Inter-Agency Task Force comprising IB, NIA, NCB, BSF, and the Punjab STF and Counter Intelligence units. Randhawa said the proposed task force should map and dismantle extortion and gun-running modules with suspected cross-border links, audit custodial and court-production protocols, fast-track UAPA/NDPS/economic offences, and institute a witness and victim protection system for NRIs and vulnerable business owners. He further demanded that internal “black sheep” within the police and prison system—allegedly facilitating gangster networks—be identified and removed.
Criticises Punjab Police for Newspaper Van Detentions
Randhawa also criticised the Punjab Police for disrupting newspaper distribution across the state on the intervening night of November 1–2. “Punjab Police must never be seen as pliant to political handlers or hostile to the free press,” he wrote, arguing that the force’s sole mandate is to “secure citizens, uphold the law, and protect constitutional freedoms”.
“Instead of neutralising gang networks, the Punjab Police chose to detain and delay newspaper vans. This appears to be a politically directed exercise that prioritised the dissemination of news over the apprehension of criminals. As a former Home Minister, I find this both professionally indefensible and institutionally corrosive,” Randhawa said.
