Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi interview: Show cause notices issued to then SSP, three other cops
The officers have been issued show cause notice in the backdrop of the high court order on September 12 stating that it hoped action was taken against senior officers also under whose watch gangster Bishnoi was allowed to be interviewed by a private channel at a Punjab police facility in Kharar in 2022.
Chandigarh: The Punjab government has told the high court that show cause notices have been issued to then senior superintendent of police (SSP), Mohali, and three other cops regarding the interview of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi conducted by a private channel in September 2022 in state police facility.
Sarbjit Singh, assistant inspector general of police (litigation), bureau of investigation, Punjab, on Tuesday informed the high court that when the alleged interview took place on the intervening night of September 3 and 4 in 2022, the supervisory officers were then SSP, Mohali, Vivek Sheel Soni (IPS); then SP (investigation), Mohali, Amandeep Brar (PPS), and then DSP (detective), Mohali, Gursher Singh Sandhu (PPS).
The competent authority to take necessary action against the gazetted officer is the department of home affairs and justice, Punjab. Accordingly, the state home department has issued show cause notice to these officers, the affidavit by Singh says.
As per the affidavit, the fourth officer in the case is then in-charge CIA, Kharar, inspector, Shiv Kumar. In the case of an inspector rank officer, the competent authority to take action is deputy inspector general of police. Since he is posted in Jalandhar these days, DIG, Jalandhar range, has issued a show cause notice to Shiv Kumar, it states.
The information was shared during the suo motu proceedings initiated by the court while taking a serious view of the two interviews conducted with the gangster by a private channel while he was in custody. The proceedings were initiated in November 2023.
In the interviews, the gangster had claimed that he was not involved in the murder case of singer Sidhu Moosewala, who was killed in 2022. He had also hinted at taking revenge from actor Salman Khan for allegedly killing animals.
The interviews were aired on March 14 and March 17, 2023. At the time of the telecast, Bishnoi was in Bathinda jail.
Later an SIT probe, constituted after the high court intervention found that while one interview was conducted at CIA facility in Kharar, a second interview took place in Rajasthan.
The officers have been issued show cause notice in the backdrop of the high court order on September 12 stating that it hoped action was taken against senior officers also under whose watch gangster Bishnoi was allowed to be interviewed by a private channel at a Punjab police facility in Kharar in 2022.