Sonu Shah murder: Lawrence Bishnoi produced in Chandigarh court

Chandigarh Police on Thursday produced gangster Lawrence Bishnoi before a local court in connection with the 2019 Sonu Shah murder case.

Lodged in Bathinda jail, he was brought to Chandigarh on production warrant amid tight security by AGTF, SWAT, Commando, Chandigarh Police and Punjab Police.

Rajveer, alias Sonu Shah, a property dealer, was gunned down by four assailants inside his office at Burail village in Sector 45 on September 28, 2019.

Police had nominated eight accused in the murder case — Bishnoi, Dharminder Singh, Shubham alias Bigni, Manjit alias Rahul, Abhishek alias Banti, Raju Basodi, Rajan and Deepak alias Ranga.

Charges were framed in 2022, but after the arrest of Deepak in April this year, the charge sheet needs to be filed afresh.

As per senior counsels, the case was listed on Thursday for submitting the amended charge sheet. Hence, all accused in the case were to be produced in court. However, Raju, who is lodged in Tihar Jail, and Abhishek, lodged in Mandoli jail, could not be brought to the city.

In the previous hearing on August 7, the court of additional district and sessions judge Jaibir Singh had issued production warrants for all accused, except Dharminder, directing that they be produced in court in person and not through video conferencing.

However, police failed to ensure presence of all accused. Bishnoi’s counsel Terminder Singh argued that charges cannot be framed till all accused were present in court.

Regarding Raju and Abhishek’s absence, police informed the court that they were required to be produced in other cases, hence, could not be brought to Chandigarh.

Now, the court has again directed the Chandigarh Police to tie up with the respective jail authorities and decide on a date when all eight can be produced in court. The matter will next be taken up on August 21, when the police have been told to relay the date.

Sampat Nehra brought to court for criminal intimidation case

Gangster Sampat Nehra, a close aide of Lawrence Bishnoi, was also produced in court amid tight security in a 2018 case of criminal intimidation.

However, as the witness in the case didn’t turn up, the case was adjourned to August 29. The court also issued a production warrant for Nehra, who is lodged in Bathinda jail, for the next date.

The matter dates back to June 2018, when a hotelier, Mohammad Kalam of Burail village, complained that on May 29, 2018, he got a WhatsApp call from someone claiming to be Sampat Nehra, who told him to “give statement in favour of Kali, else he will kill him and family”.

A resident of Balongi, Mohali, Kali Rajput is a member of Lawrence Bishnoi group and is named in multiple cases of extortion, murder and attempt to murder.

Kalam had filed a complaint against members of Kali gang after they had taken away his money and a vehicle, said police.