{Bishnoi interviews} HC issues notice to Rajasthan govt

Blurb:

Asks its advocate general to appear via video conferencing on Sept 5

Chandigarh

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Rajasthan government in a suo motu proceedings into interviews of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi conducted by a private news channel in 2023.

The high court bench of justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and justice Lapita Banerji passed the order after the Punjab Police probe into the episode had found that one of the interviews was conducted from a Rajasthan jail.

The advocate general (AG) of Rajasthan has been requested by the court to appear via video conferencing on September 5.

The court had taken a serious view of the two interviews conducted with the gangster by a private channel while he was in custody and initiated suo motu proceedings in November 2023. The court also sought details of the action taken pursuant to the episode.

In the interviews, the gangster had claimed that he was not involved in the murder of singer Sidhu Moosewala, who was gunned down in 2022. He had also hinted at taking revenge from actor Salman Khan for allegedly killing animals. The interviews were telecast on March 14 and March 17, 2023. At the time of the telecast, Bishnoi was in Bathinda jail.

On August 7, the special investigation team (SIT) constituted to probe the case had stated that one of the interviews was held in CIA police station, Kharar, (Mohali) in Punjab, where Bishnoi was lodged at that time. As of second interview, it had said that same was conducted in central jail, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Following this, amicus curiae Tanu Bedi had moved an application seeking impleadment of the Rajasthan government as party to the case, which was allowed on Wednesday.