Arvind Kejriwal death threat: caller demands Rs7 crore, names Bishnoi gang

Punjab Police have registered a case after a caller threatened to kill Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal and his daughter, Harshita, unless 7 crore Indian rupees (about $745,000) were paid, The Statesman and The Times of India reported on Thursday, 12 November. The caller claimed to be linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

Who received the Kejriwal threat?

Not Kejriwal himself. The threat reached Delhi AAP MLA Jarnail Singh, who filed the complaint, according to The Statesman. Punjab Police confirmed the extortion demand on Thursday and said the accused had threatened to kill Kejriwal and his daughter if the money was not paid.

Police had not announced any arrest by Thursday afternoon, and have not said whether the caller is really connected to the gang or only used its name.

Is the Bishnoi gang really behind it?

That is not established. The gang link is only what the caller claimed. Lawrence Bishnoi is in jail, but his gang’s name has been used again and again in extortion calls to Indian celebrities and businessmen, most famously in threats to actor Salman Khan, and some of those calls later turned out to come from people with no link to the gang. Police usually treat the name as a claim to be checked, not a fact.

Why it matters

Kejriwal is a former Delhi chief minister and AAP still runs the Punjab government, which is why the case was taken up by Punjab Police. A threat that names a politician’s child is taken especially seriously, and the security around Kejriwal’s family is likely to be reviewed.

For Pakistani readers, the Bishnoi gang’s name comes up often in Indian news linked to Punjab, Rajasthan and the music industry; it has also been named in the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala in 2022.