The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a charge sheet on Thursday against gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in a case involving the seizure of around 39 kg heroin by the Gujarat Police, officials said.
The agency filed the supplementary charge sheet in a special court under Indian Penal Code sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 465 (forgery) and 471 (fraud), besides provisions of the Information Technology Act, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, and anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, they said. The Ahmedabad Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) registered an FIR in the matter initially on September 15, 2022.
“Subsequently, the NIA took charge of the case, re-registering it…on August 20, 2023. The investigation in this case remains open,” the NIA spokesperson said.
On September 14 last year, the Gujarat ATS in a joint operation with the Indian Coast Guard intercepted a Pakistani fishing boat mid-sea near Jakhau harbour in Kutch district and seized 40 kg of heroin worth more than Rs 200 crore. Six Pakistani nationals on board the boat, named ‘Al Tayyasa’, were also arrested.
Subsequent investigations revealed that the heroin consignment was meant to be transported to northern states like Delhi and Punjab by road with the help of two Delhi residents – Sartaj Malik and Jaggi Singh alias Virpal Singh – who were supposed to receive the contraband. They were arrested later. The questioning of the eight accused revealed that drug traffickers Meeraz Rehmani and Ani Chief Obinna alias Chief, who is a Nigerian, were running the racket while sitting in jail.
Rehmani was lodged at a jail in Kapurthala and Obinna in Amritsar. It is alleged that both of them were working at the behest of Bishnoi.