Why Mumbai Police Cannot Question the Bishnoi Brothers: Inside the Home Ministry Order
A gang in jail, a probe locked out
- Since August 2023, a Union Home Ministry order has barred Lawrence Bishnoi from being taken out of Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad. It has been renewed every year since.
- A similar one-year order, dated 5 December 2025, keeps his brother Anmol Bishnoi inside Tihar Jail in Delhi.
- Because of these orders, Mumbai Police has not been able to take either brother into its custody in the Baba Siddique murder case. On 22 July 2026, a special NIA court in Delhi turned down its request for Anmol.
- The issue is back after shots were fired at actor Tiger Shroff’s car in Juhu on 18 October 2026. Police have not confirmed a link to the gang, and neither brother is an accused in that case.
At about 7 pm on Sunday, 18 October, two men on a motorcycle allegedly opened fire on actor Tiger Shroff’s BMW near Pushpa Narsee Park in Juhu, Mumbai. Shroff escaped with minor cuts from broken glass. His driver and a passer-by were injured. Within a day, Rajasthan’s Anti-Gangster Task Force and Kota police arrested three men on inputs from Mumbai Police. Messages circulating online claimed responsibility on behalf of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Mumbai Police is examining the claim and has not confirmed it.
The shooting has revived a question Mumbai Police has faced for two years. If investigators want to question the gang’s alleged leaders face to face, in their own custody, they cannot. A Home Ministry order on Lawrence Bishnoi, and a second on his brother Anmol, keeps both men inside their prisons. This report explains what the orders say, why they exist, and why they are now contested.
A Trail of Killings and Claims
The network linked to Lawrence Bishnoi has been named by police in several high-profile attacks. The main ones are listed below. In most of these cases the courts have not yet given a verdict, and what is listed are allegations or claims of responsibility:
- 29 May 2022: Singer Sidhu Moose Wala was shot dead in Mansa, Punjab. Lawrence Bishnoi is an accused. Gangster Goldy Brar, then his associate, claimed the killing.
- 5 December 2023: Karni Sena chief Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi was shot dead in Jaipur. Gangster Rohit Godara claimed it. The NIA later chargesheeted Goldy Brar and 11 others.
- 14 April 2024: Shots were fired outside actor Salman Khan’s home in Bandra. Mumbai Police sought Lawrence Bishnoi’s custody from the Home Ministry in this case.
- 12 October 2024: Former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, 66, was shot dead outside his son’s office in Bandra East. Police have told a special MCOCA court that Anmol Bishnoi was the “main conspirator”.
- 18 October 2026: The firing at Tiger Shroff’s car. The gang link is under investigation.
The network’s reach also extends abroad. Canada listed the Bishnoi gang as a terrorist entity on 29 September 2025. In July 2026, US prosecutors alleged in indictments that Lawrence Bishnoi kept running extortion through WhatsApp and other encrypted apps from Sabarmati jail as recently as January 2026. His lawyer has denied this, saying he is held in solitary confinement under continuous CCTV watch.
What the Home Ministry Order Actually Says
Normally, when a police force in one state wants to question a prisoner held in another, it asks a court for a production warrant. The prisoner is then brought to that court and can be handed over to police custody. Section 268 of the old Criminal Procedure Code, now Section 303 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), lets the government stop this. It can direct that a person must not be removed from prison, after weighing the nature of the offence, the risk to public order and the public interest.
Lawrence Bishnoi was moved to Sabarmati jail in 2023, after the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad took him in a case over a seizure of about 39 kg of heroin off the Jakhau coast. The first restriction order was issued in August 2023 under Section 268. It was renewed in August 2024 and August 2025 under Section 303 of the BNSS, and reports describe it as renewed each year since. Anmol Bishnoi was deported from the US and arrested by the NIA on 19 November 2025. His order, dated 5 December 2025, runs for one year.
The order does not stop questioning altogether. Investigators can question the brothers inside the jail, with court permission. Reports say access can be limited to one or two officers for fixed periods. Court appearances happen by video conference. What the order blocks is physical custody: taking the accused to Mumbai, questioning them over days, and confronting them with other accused and evidence there.
The Siddique Case Hits the Wall
The Baba Siddique case shows the effect most clearly. Mumbai Police alleges that the arrested accused, 27 according to reports, acted on Anmol Bishnoi’s instructions, and it lists him as a wanted accused. On 3 July 2026, Siddique’s widow went to the special MCOCA court alleging police “lethargy” in getting Anmol’s custody. The court questioned the police and issued a show-cause notice to the investigating officer.
The police replied that the Home Ministry order stood in the way, and that “the physical custody of the accused is very much essential for carrying out an effective investigation”. On 22 July 2026, Additional Sessions Judge Parashant Sharma of a special NIA court in Delhi rejected Mumbai Police’s application to take Anmol from Tihar. He held that physical custody “cannot be given”, because of the 5 December 2025 order.
Security Shield or Legal Shield?
The case for the order. Transferring a high-risk prisoner across states is dangerous. Authorities have cited escape risk and threats to prisoners’ lives in such orders. The 2023 shooting of Atiq Ahmed and his brother while in police custody in Prayagraj showed how exposed a prisoner is outside the jail. Courts have backed similar orders before. In 2013 Maharashtra used Section 268 to keep Zabiuddin Ansari, an accused in the 26/11 attacks, in prison, and the Bombay High Court rejected his challenge while allowing him to appear by video conference. The order also does not stop questioning; it only moves it into the jail.
The case against. Critics say the order has become a shield. Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal said on 19 October that it “has effectively provided Lawrence Bishnoi with legal protection”. He asked Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to press the Centre to withdraw it. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi asked why Mumbai Police has not been able to question the gangster “since the first attempted shootout”. There is also a practical point. A jail interview Bishnoi gave a TV channel in 2023, an unverified 2024 video from Sabarmati, and the US allegations all suggest that keeping him inside a prison has not cut him off from the outside world. The Supreme Court refused in July 2024 to stop an SIT probe into the jail interview. It noted that Bishnoi faced 73 cases.
Four Questions the Home Ministry Has Not Answered
- What are the reasons? The orders have not been made public in full. The reasons the law requires the government to weigh have not been explained.
- Has jail questioning worked? No agency has said publicly how many times Mumbai Police has questioned either brother inside the jail, or what came of it.
- Is there a middle path? Could custody be given for a short, fixed period, under central armed escort? The order as reported makes no such exception.
- Will it be renewed again? Anmol’s order runs until early December 2026. Its renewal, and the next renewal of Lawrence’s, are the next points to watch.
Courts elsewhere have quashed such restrictions, or sent them back, when the reasons were thin or circumstances had changed. Whether anyone will challenge the Bishnoi orders in court, and on what grounds, remains to be seen. IPB News will update this report if the Home Ministry, the Gujarat government or Mumbai Police responds.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Mumbai Police question Lawrence Bishnoi?
Yes, but only inside Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad, with court permission. It cannot take him to Mumbai because of the Home Ministry order under Section 303 of the BNSS.
What is Section 303 of the BNSS?
It replaced Section 268 of the old CrPC. It lets the government direct that a prisoner must not be removed from prison, considering the offence, the risk to public order and the public interest.
All cases mentioned are under investigation or trial. Allegations against the accused are not proven unless a court has ruled. This report is based on court records and published reports.
Sources: Outlook, ANI via India Gazette (NIA court order), Vibes of India, Brut (Tiger Shroff firing), The Statesman, The Tribune, The Tribune / PTI (Siddique case), The Tribune (SC on jail interview), The Tribune (Gogamedi chargesheet), Public Safety Canada, The Wire (US indictments), The Week.
