Who is Bajrang Singh, ex-NSG commando-turned ‘drug kingpin’ arrested in Rajasthan for..? Was part of 26/11 anti-terror Op, now accused of…

Bajrang Singh, a former National Security Guard (NSG) commando, who was reportedly part of the 26/11 anti-terror operation in Mumbai, was arrested by the Rajasthan Police for allegedly running an inter-state ‘gaanja’ (cannabis) smuggling racket in his home state. According to the police, Singh, a native of Rajasthan’s Sikar district, was nabbed by a special team of the state police while transporting around 200 kg of cannabis from Telangana and Odisha into Rajasthan on late Wednesday night.

Who is Bajrang Singh?

A resident of Sikar district in Rajasthan, Bajrang Singh quit studies after Class 10th and joined the Border Security Force (BSF), where he served briefly being discharged from the force.

Later, Singh joined the National Security Guard (NSG) and was part of the elite force’s anti-terror operation during 2008 Mumbai attacks, aka the 26/11 terror attack, when Pakistan-sponsored Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists launched a series of  coordinated terror attacks across Mumbai, killing at least 166 people, including 26 foreign nationals, over a span of four days from November 26 to 29, 2008.

How Bajrang Singh became a ‘drug kingpin’?

Bajrang Singh served as NSG commando for seven years, and following his service, started fostering political ambitions, which became evident when he tried pushing his wife to contest the local polls in 2021. While the attempt failed, it strengthened Singh’s influence and gave him exposure which he would later use to build his inter-state drug empire, a senior police official said.

Singh used his newfound influence to establish connections with criminal elements in Odisha and Rajasthan, and sought to leverage his village standing to further narcotics and terror-linked activities, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Vikas Kumar told news agency PTI.

How Rajasthan cops busted Singh and his drug racket?

According to IGP Kumar, Bajrang Singh, who carried a Rs 25,000 bounty on his head, was arrested late Wednesday night from Ratangarh in Churu by a joint team of Rajasthan Police’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) under ‘Operation Gaanjaney’.

The officer revealed that the special teams had been monitoring Singh’s movements for nearly two months, and despite his attempts to evade arrest, using fake mobile IDs and hiding in remote villages, the cops traced him to Churu with the help of technical intelligence and ground-level informers.

He said the operation was culmination of weeks of planning and intelligence sharing, and the arrest of a hardened operative and “drug kingpin” like Bajrang Singh is a “significant achievement in neutralising the terror-narcotics nexus in Rajasthan”.

(With PTI inputs)