Only my god knows if I am a powerful Bahubali or a helpless man.
Sometimes I wonder what people really say about me, or [if they] fear me as [the] media and [the] police say. When I hear such kind of talks about me, I also succumb to the illusion that I am a big shot or something. I even feel proud of myself. But God doesn’t let me stay in that zone for long. He shows me the truth and that is why I spend more time in his worship than anything else.
And [the] rest of the time, I spend doing my Karm—the actions I am supposed to do, which people term criminal acts. I do not believe I am bigger than anyone. My ideals are martyrs. I am just a simple man who doesn’t take any injustice, or bow my head before anyone and who will always respond to [the] challenge for a battle. My God will decide the matter of life and death, victory or defeat. We should leave such talks. I am succumbing to feelings and emotions. I do not know about these. I have no experience. I wanted to talk about my brother Bhanu.
Bhanu is the nickname of Anmol Bishnoi, Lawrence’s brother who is six years younger than him. He is an accused in at least 18 cases of murder, extortion, and forgery. He fled India in April and was living illegally in the United States, wearing an anklet monitor and under periodic scrutiny by local police.
In November 2025, Anmol was located in the US during a coordinated crackdown on fugitives and undocumented migrants. He was wanted in India for his alleged role in several high-profile crimes, including the firing outside actor Salman Khan’s residence and multiple extortion conspiracies. US authorities detained him, verified his identity and cleared him for deportation.
On 18 November 2025, Anmol Bishnoi was deported to India along with nearly 200 other Indian nationals. He was taken into custody by the NIA as soon as he landed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. His return marked a significant breakthrough in India’s efforts to dismantle the Bishnoi gang’s transnational operations, as he had allegedly been coordinating criminal activities from abroad. He has since been in NIA custody, with investigations focusing on threats to celebrities, extortion rackets, and political killings.
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Before his arrest, another major development had already put him on national radar. On 27 April 2024, Mumbai Police issued a lookout circular (LOC) against him following the shooting incident outside Salman Khan’s Galaxy Apartments residence in Bandra, Mumbai, in April 2024. Mumbai Police classified the firing as warning shots. Anmol plublicly claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was the first and last warning from him to the actor.
The act was part of a longer chain of hostility. Lawrence had earlier sent shooters on at least two occasions to kill Salman Khan as retaliation for the 1998 blackbuck poaching case, in which the actor was accused of killing the animals considered sacred by the Bishnoi community.
The first major attempt took place on 14 April 2024, when two armed men fired multiple rounds outside Galaxy Apartments. No one was injured, but investigators viewed it as a deliberate escalation from previous written and verbal threats.
This followed a series of ominous developments, including threatening letters and trespassing attempts at Khan’s Panvel farmhouse. The second attempt was more indirect but equally menacing. On 10 July, 7 August, and 16 October 2025, Kapil Sharma’s café—Kap’s Café—in Surrey, Canada, was attacked twice by gunmen allegedly linked to the Bishnoi gang. The reason? Anyone collaborating with Salman Khan—including Kapil Sharma, who had invited Khan to launch his show on Netflix—would face consequences. In the second attack, around 25 rounds were fired, but no injuries were reported.
Leaked audio recordings later revealed that Bishnoi’s associate, Harry Boxer, had issued warnings to Bollywood personalities against working with Salman Khan. These attacks were not just personal vendettas but strategic moves to isolate Khan professionally and instill fear within the entertainment industry.
Elsewhere in his diary, Lawrence has written:
My younger brother Bhanu would prefer spending time with me than with friends of his age. He would follow me in wedding parties or elsewhere. When I asked him why he didn’t play with his classmates or other kids, he would just say he liked being with me. He has been my shadow since I remember. It is truly said that a devoted brother who becomes your friend is a blessing. It was for me, but inadvertently he followed me on the path of crime as well. Despite my all efforts that he should live a normal life, he too became a partner in crime. And followed me into this world of no return.
There has never been a moment in my life when my heartbeat had not increased at the mention of his name. Or if I had not wept for him. Like other siblings, we too used to have fights and I abused him too but never ever has it happened that I will not remember him. Perhaps only when I die or may be not. He has never ever talked back to me. He would always smile at my rebukes. He would say he was always with me and would remain so, no matter whatever I did, he would be proud to be my younger brother. But knowingly or unknowingly, like hundreds of other youths, Bhanu too followed me into the world of crime. He got attracted to this world because of me and when I realized [that], it was too late for me. I could do nothing to save him or the hundreds of other youths who became part of these gang battles. Many like my old friend Sampat even put their life on the line for me. They left their homes and family for me. Sometimes I wonder how many lives would be destroyed because of me but I can’t stop now as I have to continue following my path. My friends Sampat, Naresh and Sachin Thapan have done so much for me that I can give my life for them and I can take anyone’s life for them. For me, nothing is bigger than friendship.
I had so much to write—a poem, a couplet, but maybe some other time, as now, I have to send this diary out of jail. I will write again if I remain alive.
Ram Ram
Jai Hanuman.
Lawrence Bishnoi has several pages dedicated to him on Facebook. He has a huge following, especially in the AboharFazilka-Ganganagar belt of Punjab and Rajasthan. At 5’6”, with a strong muscular built, Lawrence has an oval face, sports a neatly kept beard and a thick mop of black hair that accentuates his fair skin and the angular jawline. Under other circumstances, he could have tried a career in modelling. But behind that veneer of pleasantness is a cold-blooded killer.
This excerpt from ‘Gangs of Punjab’ by Jupinderjit Singh has been published with permission from Rupa Publications.