HC orders probe into Ferozepur contractor alleging extortion call from Bishnoi

The Punjab and Haryana high court has ordered a probe into a Ferozepur contractor alleging extortion call from gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who has been in jail for years together.

The high court bench of justice Vinod S Bhardwaj acted on the plea from Sukhbir Singh Brar, a contractor with the Military Engineering Services (MES), who had got an FIR registered on October 18, 2022, after he allegedly got a call from a person namely Deepak Tinu, who had further connected a conference call with gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. As per the plea, he was asked to obey the orders given by Tinu otherwise the petitioner along with his family members would be eliminated.

The development comes at a time when on November 9, a coordinate bench of the high court also sought a report on the delay in the probe into interviews of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, conducted by a private channel on two occasions in March this year. Wanted in multiple FIRs in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, the 36-year-old gangster has been in jail for over five years now and has not been released on bail.

The contractor was in high court demanding security cover. The police had told the court that his threat perception had been analysed and steps taken accordingly. The high court did not interfere with the security aspect of the contractor, however, took note of the content in the report of senior superintendent of police, Ferozepur, in which it was stated that the contractor had received a phone call from Deepak Tinu and Lawrence Bishnoi.

During the hearing, the state’s counsel had conceded that Lawrence Bishnoi was in police custody and was lodged in a high-security jail at the relevant point of time. “The aspect that despite being lodged in a high-security jail, the said gangster was having an access to the mobile/phone numbers so as to have an interaction qua ransom call is a matter of grave concern,” the bench recorded adding state’s counsel was “unsure” as to whether on the given date, Bishnoi, was in custody or not, the matter be brought to the notice of the additional director general of police (prisons) to conduct an inquiry and to fix responsibility, if any, how an inmate had access to mobile/phone number. The court has also sought a report into the incident within eight weeks.