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New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested Anmol Bishnoi — brother and close aide of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi — hours after he was deported from the United States to India. A Delhi court subsequently sent him to 11 days of NIA custody, marking a significant step in the agency’s ongoing crackdown on the international gang-terror nexus.

Special Judge Prashant Sharma remanded Anmol to NIA custody until November 29 after the agency sought 15 days for custodial interrogation. Heavy security, including Rapid Action Force teams, was deployed around the courtroom, and the media was barred from witnessing the proceedings.

Emerging from the court, special public prosecutor Rahul Tyagi described Anmol as a “very important member of the terror-gangster syndicate.” He said the NIA would interrogate him to uncover the gang’s modus operandi, flow of funds, international networks, and the chain of command across countries. “He was running the syndicate from abroad. He has crucial information. We are also probing how he fled India,” Tyagi said.

Deportation from the US After Year-Long Detention

Anmol, wanted in multiple high-profile cases, had been on the run since 2022. He was detained by US authorities in November last year and was “removed” from the US on Tuesday following India’s repeated requests. His return marks one of the most significant deportations of an Indian fugitive linked to organised crime in recent years.

The NIA had already declared him a key conspirator in the widening terror-gangster network led by Lawrence Bishnoi and Canada-based criminal Goldy Brar. With his arrest, Anmol becomes the 19th accused held in this case.

Accused in Multiple High-Impact Crimes

The 27-year-old faces at least 18 criminal cases across India. These include:

• The murder of former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Baba Siddique, who was shot dead on October 12 last year, outside his son Zeeshan’s office in Mumbai.

• The April 2024 firing incident outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s residence in Mumbai’s Bandra area.

• The May 2022 murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, a killing that shocked the nation and triggered a massive crackdown on Punjab’s gang networks.

A Punjab Police SIT had earlier stated that Anmol fled India in early 2022 using a fake passport — a few weeks before Moosewala’s shooting — and continued operating from abroad.

Ran the Network from US Soil

The NIA, in its supplementary chargesheet filed in March 2023, said Anmol had actively aided Brar and Lawrence Bishnoi in “executing acts of terror” between 2020 and 2023. Investigations revealed that he provided shelter, logistics, and money to the gang’s shooters, coordinated extortion rackets from abroad, and oversaw the movement of weapons and funds.

According to investigators, Anmol acted as a key bridge between foreign-based operatives and ground-level shooters in India, helping the syndicate maintain its cross-border infrastructure even after several arrests.

NIA’s Larger Crackdown on Terror-Gang Nexus

The NIA is building a broader case against multiple gangsters operating from foreign safe havens — including Canada, the UAE, Pakistan, and the US — whose networks have allegedly merged with terror groups to carry out targeted killings, extortion, and arms smuggling.

At least 26 people linked to the Bishnoi-Brar syndicate have been arrested in the Baba Siddique murder case alone, and the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) has been invoked. Anmol’s arrest, officials say, is expected to yield “critical breakthroughs” into the network’s financial channels and foreign linkages, particularly its US- and Canada-based modules.