New Delhi: In what is probably a first, a judge held court inside the National Investigation Agency (NIA) headquarters in New Delhi after
gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother Anmol Bishnoi expressed fear that that he would be targeted and killed by Pakistani gangster Shahzad Bhatti.
Special Judge (NIA) Prashant Sharma, considering the pleas made by Bishnoi and the inconveniences that will be caused due to heavy security. He also took into account the safety of the court staff and decided to use his power under Section 12 (place of sitting) of the NIA Act 2008 to hold the hearing at the NIA headquarters.
According to Section 12 of the Act: “A Special Court may, on its own motion, or on an application made by the Public Prosecutor and if it considers it expedient or desirable so to do, sit for any of its proceedings at any place other than its ordinary place of sitting.”
During initial court proceedings, NIA’s special public prosecutor Rahul Tyagi informed the court of the powers available under Section 12 of the NIA Act after which the court agreed to hold the hearing in NIA’s headquarters.
Bishnoi’s counsel cited social media threats by Bhatti and stated that additional safeguards are needed for the protection of life and liberty of the accused. She also prayed that directions be issued by the court to the NIA for providing adequate armed police protection and her client being taken in a bullet proof vehicle to court while clad in a bulletproof jacket.
“It is submitted that such threats cannot be treated lightly, as similar instances of social-media-based threats have, in recent times, culminated into actual acts of violence,” the lawyer said in her application.
“That in March 2025, a serious incident was reported in Jalandhar, Punjab, where a grenade was hurled at the residence of a social media influencer following similar threats issued through online videos by the aforesaid foreign-based gangster. This incident demonstrates a clear pattern of escalation from threats to real-world violence,” the application stated.
The post being referred to in the application is one on Instagram where the Pakistani gangster allegedly threatened and openly challenged Lawrence Bishnoi to save his brother and maternal uncle.
“That in view of these developments, the continuous nature of the threats, and the demonstrated pattern of actual violence, the applicant/accused have a genuine and reasonable apprehension of imminent danger to his life and liberty, as well as to the safety of his counsel,” it was said in the application.
During the hearing at the NIA HQ, SPP Tyagi sought ten-days custody of Anmol Bishnoi, who had already spent 11 days in NIA’s custody. The NIA sought an extension of Bishnoi’s custody as he had disclosed details about an international network in Europe which needed to be unearthed.
Arms from Pakistan, which had allegedly been distributed to Bishnoi’s gang members, had to be traced as well, the NIA submitted.
After conclusion of hearing, NIA was granted seven days additional custody of Bishnoi.
Anmol Bishnoi has over 30 cases pending against him across the country. He is among those who allegedly managed the extortion operations of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, a criminal syndicate operating in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Delhi.
Central agencies are focusing on his alleged role in the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala in May 2022, NCP leader Baba Siddique’s killing last year, the firing outside actor Salman Khan’s house, among others.
Anmol was deported to India last week after his asylum application was turned down by a Louisiana court in the US. He was arrested by the NIA on arrival. He had been declared a proclaimed offender in January this year.
Anmol allegedly fled to the US on a fake passport in May, 2022. In 2024, the US immigration department found that one of the reference letters of a company, attached to his travel documents, was forged. Anmol has been named by the NIA in two cases in which a bounty of Rs 10 lakh each had been announced.
