New Delhi: When gangster Sachin Thapan Bishnoi, who claimed responsibility for the murder of singer Sidhu Moosewala, touched down in Baku, Azerbaijan last May, he wasn’t evading authorities, but was on a perilous mission.
His strategy involved a dash to Armenia, 216 km away, through the Lachin corridor to eliminate rival Bambiha gang leader Lucky Patial before zipping back to the base in Baku before leaving for Serbia, sources in the security establishment told ThePrint.
However, luck eluded him as the Delhi Police Special Cell, tracking Sachin since his escape in March 2022 to Dubai, traced him in Baku and promptly initiated his extradition thwarting his assassination plot, ThePrint has learnt.
According to a source in the intelligence setup, Sachin Bishnoi had made all logistical arrangements to carry out Patial’s killing.
“The stage was set, arrangements made, he was to just execute the act but before he could do that, he was traced, arrested and brought back to India in connection with the Sidhu Moosewala murder case,” the source said.
These details, the source said, were shared by Sachin during his interrogation.
According to the source, Sachin fled to Dubai in May 2022 on a fake passport. “In March last year, he shot a builder in Dwarka after he had refused to pay Rs 1 crore as extortion money. As the police started looking for him, he arranged for a fake passport and fled to Dubai in the name of Tilak Raj Toteja,” the source said.
“He stayed in Dubai for a few months and between June-July 2022, he left for Baku, Azerbaijan for this task,” the source said. “He, however, was traced and detained in August 2022 and couldn’t materialise his plan.” Sachin was brought back to India in August this year.
The source added that the task to eliminate was given to Sachin by his uncle and gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, since Patial runs the Bambiha gang and his death would be a big blow to them.
Lucky Patial has been at war with the Bishnoi group for the past several years. After the death of Davinder Bambiha, who was killed in an encounter by Punjab Police in 2016, Patial was overseeing the operations of the gang.
The rivalry worsened after the murder of Youth Akali Dal leader Vikramjit Singh alias Vicky Middukhera on 7 August 2021 by members of the Bambiha gang, police sources said. According to a charge sheet filed by the Punjab Police, Patial was the main conspirator of the murder.
Then on 29 May 2022, Moosewala was shot dead allegedly by the Lawrence Bishnoi syndicate, to avenge the killing of Middukhera. Sachin, who hails from Fazilka in Punjab, claimed responsibility for the murder on his Facebook page.
Also Read: Gangs of New Delhi – featuring young guns, social media swag, & finance
‘Traced through IPDR analysis’
According to sources in the security establishment, the Delhi Police Special Cell and intelligence agencies located Sachin’s presence in Baku through IPDR (Internet Protocol Details Record) analysis of his communication.
IPDR is the record of internet activity of a user, maintained by the Internet Service Provider, which can be used to track the internet usage of the user or subscriber. The IPDR logs contain fields like calling mobile number, port number of the user, internal and external IP address of the user and cell tower ID or location, which comes in handy for agencies to locate a suspect.
Once Sachin was traced to Baku, the Ministries of Home Affairs and External Affairs were briefed, following which a Red Notice was issued by the Interpol through Central Bureau of Investigation in August 2022.
A Red Notice is a request issued by Interpol to locate and provisionally arrest an individual awaiting extradition. It is issued by the Interpol General Secretariat at the request of a member country or an international tribunal, based on a valid arrest warrant.
In Sachin’s case, it took the two countries close to a year to process all legal formalities, following which a team of Delhi Police went to Baku and brought him to India in August this year.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Donkers, cartels, hawala — Deepak Boxer arrest exposes nexus that helps gangsters plot ‘American dream’