Bishnoi was moved to the Sabarmati jail from Delhi's Tihar in August 2023.
Despite his gang claiming responsibility for the firing outside actor Salman Khan's house in April and now former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique's killing last week, the Mumbai Police has not been able to get custody of dreaded gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who is in a jail in Gujarat. Sources said that, after the April firing, the Mumbai Police had filed several applications to get the custody of Bishnoi, who is in the Sabarmati jail, but they have been denied because of a Home ministry order barring his transfer.
Bishnoi was moved to the Sabarmati jail from Delhi's Tihar in August 2023 in connection with a drug smuggling case and the Ministry of Home Affairs had issued an order under Section 268 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) stating that no state or agency can seek his custody for a year. The section gives the government the power to bar the movement of prisoners when doing so can affect law and order.
The order was supposed to be in effect till August this year, but sources said it has been extended for another year.
The Bishnoi gang made national headlines after claiming responsibility for killing Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala in 2022. It has also said it was responsible for the firing outside Salman Khan's house, Galaxy Apartments, in Bandra in April.
The gang, whose day-to-day operations are now run primarily by Bishnoi's brother, Anmol, and gangsters Goldy Brar and Rohit Godara, has said it wants to kill Salman Khan because of his alleged involvement in shooting blackbucks at Bawad in Mathania near Jodhpur in September 1998, during the filming of 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'.
The alleged act had upset the Bishnoi community, which considers the blackbuck sacred.
Lawrence Bishnoi had said during a court appearance in 2018: "We will kill Salman Khan in Jodhpur. Everyone will know once we take action. I have not done anything as of now, they are accusing me of crimes for no reason."
A member of the gang, who has now been taken into custody, has said that the murder of Siddique on Saturday was also its handiwork.
Lonkar claimed that Siddique had been killed because he was linked to India's most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, was close to Salman Khan and because of the death of Anuj Thapan, one of the arrested suspects in the shooting outside Mr Khan's house, in police custody.
Police are verifying the authenticity of the post.