Chandigarh: Two cases have been registered in Punjab against jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in connection with his interviews aired by a private news channel in March.
The move comes after the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in an order on December 23, 2023, directed Punjab Director General of Police to lodge FIRs in this regard. The High Court had also rejected the investigation report of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and ordered setting up a new probe team headed by DGP, Human Rights Commission, Prabodh Kumar.
The other members of the Special SIT are two IPS officers namely Joint Director of Vigilance Bureau S. Rahul and DIG Nilambari Jagdale. The next hearing of the case has been listed on January 10.
The Punjab Police will now be investigate Bishnoi's interviews which were reportedly conducted from jail. A private news channel had aired two interviews of Bishnoi, an accused in the singer Sidhu Moosewala murder case of 2022.
The existing report of the SIT stated that there was no evidence that the interviews took place in Bathinda or any other jail or police station. Responding to this High Court asked if there is a possibility of an interview in Haryana but the ADGP ruled out saying that when the two interviews were reportedly conducted, Bishnoi was in the custody of the Delhi and Rajasthan police respectively.
In the first interview aired on March 14, Bishnoi had confessed of killing Moosewala since the latter was interfering in the gang war instead of singing. The second interview that was aired on March 17, Bishnoi gave evidence of conducting an interview from inside the prison. He showed his barracks and told that he is not allowed to go out but he has access to mobile phones. Bishnoi also threatened to kill Bollywood superstar Salman Khan as he was offended at the actor over his black buck hunting case.
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