Wtf is up with Lawrence Bishnoi?

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Aakriti Anand & Raghav Bikhchandani

Wtf is up with Lawrence Bishnoi?

The gangster has been named in the killings of Sidhu Moosewala, NCP leader Baba Siddique, and Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada—and threats to Salman Khan! The latest: a planned hit on the comedian Munawar Faruqui???

According to the Delhi police, “a United Kingdom-based associate of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi... outsourced the hit to two men in Delhi.” The police uncovered the plot while investigating the killing of an Afghan gym owner in Delhi—also allegedly orchestrated by Bishnoi. Now, why does the Bishnoi gang want Faruqui dead? No one knows.

Reminder: Faruqui made national news when he was arrested in February 2021 and spent months in jail because of rightwing vigilantes—who also forced organisers to cancel his gigs when he got out on bail. He later won the reality shows ‘Lock Upp’ and ‘Bigg Boss’—and was accused of ‘selling out’. (This Big Story has more on his arrest).

The really insane bit: Bishnoi has been in prison since 2014—and spent the last year in the Sabarmati jail in Gujarat:

What has added to the intrigue is the Union home ministry invoking an order that bars the movement of prisoners to keep Bishnoi in Sabarmati jail. That order has now been extended by a year in Bishnoi’s case.

And yet Bishnoi has been merrily orchestrating a string of high-profile crimes—and lords over an empire of “700 operatives”—with seeming impunity. How and why is this happening?

Bishnoi the Hindutva don: That’s one explanation—offered by intelligence sources to The Telegraph:

Sources in the NIA said the 31-year-old identified himself as a “Hindu don” — a warrior for the “Hindu cause”, which he believes offers him a degree of protection in the current regime.

Bishnoi the Khalistani: Oddly enough, the Indian Express cites a 2023 detailed chargesheet—filed by the NIA, no less—which says this:

The agency also characterised his syndicate as one that “formed an alliance with the pro-Khalistan cause, to satisfy its quest for sophisticated weapons and to further invest the proceeds of terrorism generated through their existing extortion rackets”.

But, but, but: To make things even loopier, the Canadians claim Bishnoi was hired by the Indian government to target Khalistani sympathisers in Canada:

What we have seen is the use of organised crime elements, and it’s been publicly attributed to one organised crime gang in particular… The Bishnoi group is connected to the agents of India.

That presumably brings us back to Bishnoi the Hindu nationalist—at least of the mercenary kind.

Reading list: Indian Express and The Telegraph offer duelling versions of Bishnoi’s motives. Also in Indian Express, the threat against Faruqui. An excellent read: This Advisory excerpt from the book ‘Who Killed Moosewala?’ by veteran crime reporter Jupinderjit Singh—which offers the surprising origin story of the infamous gangster—a brahmachari named after the founder of Lawrence School, Sanawar.

Jaishankar goes to Islamabad

The Indian External Affairs Minister will be the first to visit Pakistan in nearly a decade. Here’s a super-short guide to this trip.

What is SCO? Formed in 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) originally comprised China, Russia, and four former Soviet Union states before expanding to include India and Pakistan in 2017, and Iran in 2023. It doesn’t do very much of note—unlike, say, NATO or the Arab League.

So who cares? Well, Pakistan, at the very least. It offers good PR for Islamabad—which is trying to prove it’s safe “for foreigners.” Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit Pakistan for the first time in 11 years. Maybe New Delhi will agree to send its cricket team next time? Reminder: India has refused to attend any cricket tournament held in Pakistan for 16 years, since 2008. (Indian Express)

Bonus pic: The event also helped our dear minister get some photo-ops of his own:

A grim exposé of China’s ‘panda factories’

As you all know, we have a giant soft spot for these clowns—so this one really hit home.

The context: Beijing created four panda preserves in the 1960s—and started sending wild-caught pandas as state gifts. The most famous of these modern-day ambassadors were Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing—gifted to President Nixon on his 1972 visit to China—a historic moment in global diplomacy.

What happened next: In the 1980s, pandas were an endangered species on the brink of extinction. That’s when China and WWF came together to set up protected sanctuaries—and a first-of-its kind massive breeding program. Part of this grand plan: an exchange program with zoos around the world:

The panda program was created with the stated goal of saving a beloved endangered species. Zoos would pay up to $1.1 million a year per pair, which would help China preserve the pandas’ habitat. By following carefully crafted breeding recommendations, zoos would help improve the genetic diversity of the species. And someday, China would release pandas into the wild.

This has long been touted as a huge success. The number of wild pandas have increased by 17%—and they are no longer classified as ‘endangered’.

What New York Times found: The breeding program is a giant marketing stunt—that benefits Beijing and the zoos—at the expense of the pandas:

Today, China has removed more pandas from the wild than it has freed, The Times found. No cubs born in American or European zoos, or their offspring, have ever been released. The number of wild pandas remains a mystery because the Chinese government’s count is widely seen as flawed and politicised.

Most heartbreakingly this:

Because pandas are notoriously fickle about mating in captivity, scientists have turned to artificial breeding. That has killed at least one panda, burned the rectum of another and caused vomiting and injuries in others, records show. Some animals were partly awake for painful procedures. Pandas in China have flickered in and out of consciousness as they were anaesthetised and inseminated as many as six times in five days, far more often than experts recommend.

We’re offering a splainer gift link so you can read this important investigation. We highly recommend you do so. Our previous Big Story on the panda looked at why they have failed as an ambassador for wildlife conservation. At the time, we said they don’t seem to have helped anyone but themselves. Now, even that doesn’t seem to be true:(

Something to see: This would have been a feel-good item—but not so much now. China has shipped two pandas to the Washington Zoo—the first in 24 years. You can see them below. (CNN)

Google is going nuclear

The tech giant has struck a “world first” deal with a nuclear energy startup to power its AI data centres. Kairos will supply a fleet of six to seven mini nuclear reactors—the first of which will go live in 2030. Google claims the shift to nuclear will provide “a clean, round-the-clock power source that can help us reliably meet electricity demands.”

Microsoft and Amazon are also making moves in the same direction. In fact, Microsoft wants to restart the Three Mile Island reactor—which was famously shut down in 2019 due to operating losses and pressure from anti-nuclear activists. TechCrunch has lots more. Also, check out this Big Story by Samarth Bansal on the perilous energy price tag of AI.

Meanwhile, at Adobe: The company rolled out a Generative Extend feature as part of its Firefly AI platform. It allows you to make “small tweaks” to your video—as in, extend the beginning or the end of a video clip etc. Also added to the platform: a text-to-video or image-to-video tool similar to Open AI’s Sora. (The Verge)

A new phoren fave for Indian students

Indian students have overtaken the Chinese as the largest student group in Germany this year. Other hotspots for education include Malta, Singapore, Finland, Ireland, and Japan—where desi students have doubled since 2021. Ofc, part of this is a result of stricter visa rules in top picks like Canada and the US. The bit that makes us happy: The rising popularity of non-STEM subjects like psychology, law, architecture—and even “luxury and brand management” in France or Italy. That’s apparently a super-smart move if you want to be in the high-end consumption biz. (Indian Express)

what caught our eye

business & tech

Say hello to music videos on Spotify—the music streaming app will be testing out the feature in 85 countries.
Also newly launched: Jio’s pair of 4G-enabled phones that offer live TV, streaming, and digital payments for Rs 1,099 ($13) a pop.
Credit card usage has seen a massive jump this festive season in India, with payments platform Razorpay reporting a 106% spike between October 3 and 12 from last year.
The government has issued new guidelines to crack down on greenwashing in ads—which attempt to make their products seem eco-friendly—as in ‘clean’, ‘green’, ‘organic’, ‘natural’ etc.
The spending power of India’s Gen Z will hit $2 trillion by 2035, a new report by Snap-BCG has revealed.
Boeing’s financial woes deepen amid huge PR nightmares—the aviation firm is now turning to Wall Street and big banks to raise $25 billion.
The US may cap the exports of AI chips from US-based companies like Nvidia and AMD to certain countries, including in the Middle East.
Starbucks makes most of its money selling sugar loaded to kids—not coffee to adults.
New York Times has picked a new AI fight with Jeff Bezos-backed Perplexity—for illegally scraping its content.
Gizmodo has a must-read analysing how Meta makes millions off of political violence on all sides—from Israel’s war on Gaza to the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
BBC News takes a look at underwater cables—the ‘deep-sea emergency service’ responsible for 99% of the world’s digital connectivity.

sports & entertainment

Washington Post (splainer gift link) has a must-read on the bizarre downfall of Dutch footballer Quincy Promes, from promising star to cocaine trafficker.
In today’s edition of ‘Who asked for this?!?!?!?’, you can now relive the pre-wedding celebrations of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant on JioCinema’s ‘Valley of Gods’.

as for the rest

Save the dates: Maharashtra will go to the polls on November 20, while Jharkhand’s two phases of voting are slated for November 13 and 20.
The vagaries of nature may have its say for 350,000 vulnerable residents in the Sunderbans region, according to new research.
Brace yourselves: India’s drug regulator has hiked the prices of eight medications—including for TB, asthma, and thalassemia—by 50%.
Prague has become the latest European destination to regulate tourism—in this case, the city wants to attract a ‘classier’ clientele by banning nighttime pub crawls. Check out our Big Story for more on Europe’s ‘overtourism’ problem.
Israel’s relentless bombing continues—they’ve killed a further 22 people in Lebanon to bring the death toll past 2,300, and at least 50 more across Gaza.
Air India’s daily Delhi-Chicago flight was diverted to Canada’s Iqaluit airport on Tuesday due to a bomb threat that was later declared a hoax.
Authorities in Hong Kong have launched an investigation after nine monkeys died over two days in a local zoo.

Five things to see

One: Donald Trump events are getting truly weird. His town hall—which is traditionally a Q&A with voters—turned into a bizarre music fest. The loudspeaker blared a medley of songs—while Trump swayed as though he was… either experiencing a ‘medical event’ or Ecstasy. (The Hill)

Two: The Chinese have found a new way to psych out poor Taiwan. First, China launched a military drill—“surrounding its main island and outer territories with planes and ships to practise a blockade and attack.” This bit is just Beijing being Beijing. To mix things up, the military exercise was accompanied by this ‘cutesy’ image—which flooded the internet. It shows a satellite map of Taiwan—surrounded by a heart—with the words: “Hi my sweetheart. The patrol is in the shape of loving you.” One Taiwanese newspaper called it “sexual harassment”—which is surely a new low in international diplomacy. (The Guardian)

Three: NASA launched the Europa Clipper—which will be the first to study Jupiter’s moon Europa. We love the cool animations of what the flybys would look like—though Clipper will take six years to travel 1.8 billion miles to reach Jupiter in April 2030. (CNN)

Four: Get ready for the desi version of ‘Citadel’—directed by Raj & DK and starring Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu. No Priyanka Chopra in this one, but the trailer looks quite promising. It drops on November 7 on Amazon Prime. (Hindustan Times)

Five: Twenty five years ago, Oscar winning actor Mahershala Ali was to debut in a mockumentary called ‘Taste the Revolution’. This film was shelved in 2001, following the events of 9/11—and will now premiere at the New Orleans Film Festival this Saturday. (Hollywood Reporter)