Gorakhpur. The Special Task Force’s investigation into an alleged weapons‑smuggling ring tied to Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar and Rohit Godara has broadened to include local contacts in Gorakhpur. A total of 31 persons have now been listed as accused, among them a close aide of a regional politician and the son of a police sub‑inspector. Investigators are scrutinising the mobile devices, social‑media footprints and address books of those taken into custody.
Authorities are in the process of corroborating the identities of the local intermediaries uncovered during the enquiry. They aim to determine the substance of the conversations these individuals held with the primary suspects and whether they played any role in the purported arms network. In a related development, Gorakhpur police briefly detained the brother of a student leader for questioning, but he was released shortly thereafter.
One of the named accused is reported to be an associate of a Sahjanwa‑area politician, while another’s father serves as a sub‑inspector in the Uttar Pradesh police force. Following the filing of the case at Cantt Police Station, raids have been launched to locate the remaining fugitives, with mobile numbers and online activity under close review.
The STF is now focused on pinpointing the local actors allegedly responsible for distributing weapons that entered Gorakhpur and the wider Purvanchal region from other states. Phone logs and social‑media contacts retrieved from the arrested suspects are being cross‑checked against known networks.
Five Suspects Nabbed on Monday Night
During the night of Monday, STF operatives arrested Shreyansh Yadav (alias Bablu), Ajit Yadav, Abhishek Gaud (alias Bheli), Abhishek Prajapati (alias Abhi) and Rahul Gupta near Vindhyavasini Park. Subsequent interrogations revealed an additional 26 names, bringing the total count of accused to 31. While five have been taken into custody, the remaining 26 are still at large.
More than ten task‑force teams are conducting coordinated raids across Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, as well as in Gorakhpur, Kushinagar and Maharajganj districts, in a bid to apprehend the missing suspects. Shashank Pandey, a resident of Bihar, has emerged as a pivotal link in the investigation.
The probe also uncovered the identities of Suraj Yadav, a PAC employee from Bansgaon, and his associate Pramod Yadav. According to STF officials, the duo allegedly purchased firearms from the same smuggling cell as part of a plot to eliminate a young man. Police are now tracking the weapons and the contacts tied to them. Both men are believed to have gone underground after learning of the police operation.
STF agents have reached Shashank Pandey’s ancestral village in an effort to locate him. The network of contacts he forged while operating out of Gorakhpur is also under investigation, after earlier inquiries suggested links between him and the Bishnoi‑associated arms syndicate.
