Chandigarh: The Punjab & Haryana High Court came down heavily on Punjab Police officers on Thursday, saying that they allowed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi to use an office at a police station as studio for his TV interview last year.
The high court directed that a new special investigation team (SIT) be constituted to conduct further probe into possible nexus and conspiracy between police and Bishnoi hang.
The order was passed by a division bench of Justices Anupinder Singh Grewal and Lapita Banerji after Special DGP (Punjab State Human Rights Commission) Prabodh Kumar submitted that an SIT he was heading did not have the mandate to look into other offences, reported The Indian Express.
The two-member bench was hearing a suo motu matter related to inmates’ use of mobile phones inside the jail.
“The police officers allowed the criminal to use electronic device and provided a studio-like facility to conduct the interview which tends to glorify crime with the potential to facilitate other crimes including extortion by the criminal and his associates. Involvement of the police officers may suggest receipt of illegal gratification from the criminal or his associates and constitute offences under Prevention of Corruption Act. Therefore, the case requires further investigation,” Bar & Bench quoted the court as saying.
The court was examining the special DGP-headed SIT’s decision to submit a cancellation report in a case linked to Lawrence’s interview.
The interview of Lawrence, who is a suspect in the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, was aired by ABP News in March 2023. In the course of the interview, Lawrence said he Bishnoi knew about the murder plot.
Despite the SIT finding out that the interview was conducted within the CIA office premises at Kharar and pinpointing instances of misconduct and negligence by police officers, it submitted a cancellation report to the judicial magistrate first class stating that apart from the offence under Section 506 of IPC, the other charges listed in the FIR were not substantiated.
“The office of the Officer In-charge of the Police Station was used as a studio to conduct the interview. The official Wi-Fi at the premises of the CIA staff had been provided for conducting the interview which is a pointer towards the criminal conspiracy. The report indicates that roznamcha was also forged and fabricated. The matter calls for further investigation as to for what consideration this was done and the various aspects towards offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act besides other offences need to be examined,” the court said.
