Police raid Bishnoi’s cell, court rejects his plea for relief
NEW DELHI: Prison authorities in Delhi’s Tihar jail on Monday conducted searches in the cell of Lawrence Bishnoi and his accomplice Shahrukh and have seized “prohibited items” in connection with the murder of Punjabi singer and Congress leader Sidhu Moosewala.
Moosewala was shot dead by gunmen at around 5.30 pm on Sunday when he, along with his cousin and a friend, was driving to Jawaharke village in Punjab. Later, gangsters Bishnoi and Goldy Brar claimed responsibility for the murder.
Bishnoi is currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail after he was arrested under the stringent MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.
According to a Delhi Police dossier, Bishnoi’s expertise in crime is “firing and driving.”
The son of a Haryana police constable, who quit his job and took to farming, Bishnoi was born in Fazilka, Punjab.
The Delhi Police, meanwhile, questioned Bishnoi’s key accomplices — Kala Jathedi and Kala Rana, who were already in police custody related to a separate case — in connection with the murder case, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
There were reports on social media that police teams also visited Tihar jail to question Bishnoi on Monday but no senior police officer, authorised to issue press statements, confirmed this. Bishnoi’s counsel, too, denied this.
Though no senior prison officer wished to comment on the searches in the jail, a mid-level officer, who asked not to be named, said, “Searches were conducted in Bishnoi’s high-risk cell inside jail 8. The search team found some prohibited items.”
HT could not independently confirm if the prohibited item jail officers found is a cell phone or something else.
A second Delhi police officer, who asked not to be named, also said that some days ago they had traced one of Bishnoi’s alleged accomplice Shahrukh(also jailed in Tihar) using a messaging app on a phone from Tihar to contact Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar. Brar and Bishnoi are part of the same gang.
“With Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar claiming responsibility for the murder, police are keeping a close look into the role of those associated with Lawrence Bishnoi such as Kala Rana and Kala Jathedi. A court on Monday also granted us ten more days of police custody of the two men,” said a police officer.
Kala Jathedi was one of Delhi’s top gangsters until his arrest last year. Kala Rana was extradited from Thailand last year. Both men are key members of Lawrencegoldy Brar group.
Meanwhile, a Delhi court on Monday refused to entertain a plea filed by Bishnoi’s lawyer Vishal
Chopra, seeking a direction to the jail authorities not to give his custody to the Punjab police. The petition stated that Bishnoi feared he would be killed in a fake encounter by Punjab and Chandigarh police during transit.
“If the production may be allowed then counsels of the accused persons shall be informed and the custody of the accused shall be given on a condition of a proper security arrangements as the accused shall be handcuffed and shackled and ensure all necessary safeguards during transit and on production warrant and also ensure to that adequate arrangements while producing the applicant to any other court outside of the Delhi,” the petition said.
Special Judge Praveen Singh, however, said there was no ground for the accused to file the application before the court.