7 Punjab cops, including 2 DSPs, suspended over Lawrence Bishnoi interview while in jail

Chandigarh: The Punjab Police has suspended seven personnel, including two deputy superintendent rank officers, in connection with an interview of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi while in police custody.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police, led by the special director general of police (human rights), found that one interview of Bishnoi was conducted when he was in Punjab Police's custody in Mohali's Kharar while the second was done in Rajasthan.

The suspension came after the SIT found dereliction of duty on the part of the seven personnel.

According to an order of the Punjab home secretary issued on Friday, SP Gursher Singh Sandhu, DSP Sammar Vaneet, sub-inspector Reena (CIA Kharar), sub-inspector Jagatpal Jangu, sub-inspector Shaganjit Singh, assistant sub-inspector Mukhtiar Singh and head constable Om Parkash have been suspended.

"Keeping in view the sensitivity of the case, all the above officers have been suspended," said the order.

The home secretary order referred to the SIT report which found that Bishnoi's interview, aired on a private TV channel, was conducted through video conference on the intervening night of September 3 and 4 2022.

In March last year, a private news channel ran two interviews of Bishnoi.

The first interview was conducted on the premises of CIA (crime investigating agency) staff, Kharar which falls in the jurisdiction of SAS Nagar, Mohali.

The second interview was conducted when Bishnoi was lodged in Central Jail in Jaipur, according to the probe by the SIT, which submitted its report to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in July in a suo motu matter related to the use of mobile phones by inmates on jail premises.

Bishnoi is one of the accused in the 2022 murder case of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala.