Ahmedabad’s Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court designated judge U T Desai has charged 11 accused including gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who was arrested in a drug case worth crores from the sea near Jakhau in Kutch, through video conference.

After the charge frame, the trial will begin soon and the statements from the witnesses will be recorded.

The accused had earlier denied the crime and wanted to move ahead with a trial.

Following that, 71 witnesses, 74 documents, and 35 articles were submitted by the NIA in the draft charge.

Notorious gangster Bishnoi was arrested by the NIA in 2023 and was brought to Ahmedabad. Since then, he has been in Sabarmati Central Jail and the Union Home Department has invoked Section 298 of the CrPC to prevent Bishnoi from leaving the jail.

He can only be interrogated in jail with the permission of the court and cannot be moved out of it.

In 2021, the ATS arrested accused Mohammad Shafi, Imran, Mohsin, Juhar Sohail and Kamran from a boat in the sea near Jakhau in Kutch. During their interrogation, it was revealed that the drugs were loaded into the boat by the Pakistani drug mafia Abdullah from the coast of Balochistan.

It was also revealed that Lawrence Bishnoi had ordered these drugs to India. During the investigation, Sartaj Salim Malik and Mohammad Shafi, who were coming to take delivery of drugs, were also arrested.

Names of the accused in the case –

(1) Lawrence Bishnoi (2) Chief Obanna Annie Christian (3) Miraj Rahmani Abdul Sattar (4) Mohammad Shafi Latif Maigar Sindhi (5) Imran (Sumaro Sindhi) Abdul Khalid (6) Mohsin Shahzad (Maigar Sindhi) Haji (7) Zahur Ahmed Abdul Shakur Kathiawadi (8) Mohammad Sohail Mohammad Yakub Maigar Sindhi (9) Kamran Musa Mrigar Sindhi (10) Sartaj Salim Malik (11) Mohammad Safi alias Jaggi Singh Virpal Singh Mohammad Salim Malik