Kejriwal death threat: Mohali FIR over Rs 7 crore demand made in Bishnoi gang’s name

MOHALI – Police in Punjab’s Mohali have registered a case after a caller who claimed to speak for the Lawrence Bishnoi gang demanded Rs 7 crore from former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and threatened to kill him and his daughter, Harshita, if the money was not paid.

The threat did not reach Kejriwal directly. It was sent to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Jarnail Singh, who represents Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, with instructions to pass it on. The caller’s claimed link to the gang has not been verified by police.

How the Kejriwal death threat was made

Singh received a phone call and a WhatsApp message from an unknown number on November 6, around 6 pm, according to his complaint, as reported by PTI via The Tribune. The message opened with a line in Hinglish saying the sender was speaking on behalf of the “Lawrence Bishnoi gang”, The Federal reported.

The sender allegedly told Singh to tell Kejriwal to pay Rs 7 crore “or face consequences”, and warned that the AAP national convener and his daughter would be killed otherwise. Singh approached the Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police the same day and attached a screenshot of the WhatsApp message, ETV Bharat reported.

In his complaint, Singh said the threat to a figure of Kejriwal’s stature raised “national and public security risks”. He asked police to trace call records, IP logs and the location of the device, and to coordinate with security agencies to protect those named.

What the Mohali police case says

The case was registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station in Mohali against an unidentified person. According to reports citing the FIR, it was filed on November 7 under Sections 308(4) (extortion), 351(2), 351(3) and 351(4) (criminal intimidation, including by anonymous communication) and 111(2) (organised crime) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, which covers cheating by impersonation using a computer resource.

Inspector Sunil Kumar of the cyber crime police station is investigating, ETV Bharat reported. No arrest had been announced as of Thursday, and police had not said whether Kejriwal’s security had been reviewed.

Is the Bishnoi gang link confirmed?

No. Social media posts by national outlets, including The Indian Express and Hindustan Times, described the threat as coming “from” the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. The complaint and the FIR, however, only record that the caller claimed to be a member of the gang. Police have not said the gang was involved, and no one from the gang has publicly claimed it.

Some later reports, attributed to the news agency IANS and Dainik Bhaskar, said the investigation had traced the caller to Rohtak in Haryana and found the threat to be a hoax by someone misusing the gang’s name, as summarised by Dainik Jagran English. No police officer has confirmed this on record, and the caller has not been named. Nagaland.News could not independently verify the Rohtak trace.

Kejriwal and the AAP leadership had not commented publicly on the threat at the time of writing.

What is confirmed so far

• An FIR has been registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station, Mohali, against an unknown person.
• The demand was Rs 7 crore, with a threat to kill Kejriwal and his daughter, Harshita.
• The threat came by phone call and WhatsApp to AAP MLA Jarnail Singh on November 6.

What is not verified

• Whether the caller has any real link to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
• The reported trace to Rohtak and the claim that the call was a hoax.
• The identity of the person who made the call.

Gang name often used in extortion calls

Lawrence Bishnoi, who is in jail in Gujarat, is accused in several high-profile cases, including the 2022 killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala. His name has been invoked in extortion calls to actors, businesspeople and politicians, and in past cases police have arrested callers who used the gang’s name with no proven link to it.

This is not the first threat aimed at Kejriwal’s family. In January 2019, when he was chief minister, his office received an email threatening to kidnap his daughter, Scroll reported at the time.

Extortion demands made in the name of powerful groups are a familiar concern in the Northeast as well. In Chümoukedima, civic and youth bodies recently warned against unauthorised money demands on construction workers.