Doda conviction: A phone call that got wheels of justice moving
Bhim Sain Tank died on way to hospital, while Gurjant had his hand chopped off and foot slashed.
The sentencing of liquor baron Shiv Lal Doda and 23 others to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of Bhim Sain Tank, a Dalit man, in December 2015 would never have happened had a phone call not been made.
The crucial phone call from Gurjant Singh, alias Janta Lahoria, who had accompanied Tank to Doda’s palatial farmhouse on December 11, 2015, meant that he and Tank did not end up being buried in a corner of the 30-acre property. The call was made to Ranjit Singh Rana, Gurjant’s brother, and led to the arrival of help. Tank died on way to hospital, while Gurjant had his hand chopped off and foot slashed.
After having remained Doda’s employee in his liquor business and a close aide for several years, Tank had started a dhaba on the Abohar-Malout road and in a dispute with Davinder Singh, an employee of Doda. It was this dispute that turned into a scuffle before culminating into the brutal murder.
Having been booked in the case, Doda tried to prove his innocence by posting a video that showed him as being in Delhi when the murder took place. However, his involvement and that of his nephew Amit in the criminal conspiracy was proved with mobile phone call details.
Having contested 2012 assembly polls as an independent candidate from Abohar against Congress’ Sunil Jakhar, Doda had been ‘virtually’ managing the SAD’s affairs in the segment. During this time, he was also seen with the then chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.
His clout in the SAD and administration can be gauged from the fact that he was found to be conducting a political darbar in Fazilka sub-tehsil jail in January 2017 before the Punjab assembly elections with SAD leaders.
His clout in the liquor industry meant that in May 2017, even under the new Congress government, deputy excise and taxation commissioner Jaswinder Singh went to meet Doda, lodged in Amritsar jail at the time for Tank’s murder, to ask him to take over the liquor trade in the region. Jaswinder’s audio conversation with a liquor trader from the jail went viral. In January 2019, Doda, along with four others, was booked for threatening key witness and attack survivor, Gurjant Singh. In May, Punjab National Bank seized Doda’s nine properties worth crores of rupees after a loan default. His liquor firms continue to get big business in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
