New Delhi, July 30
The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s petition challenging a Punjab and Haryana High Court order to register an FIR over his interview with a TV channel from jail and a probe into it by a special investigation team (SIT).
Bishnoi is one of the accused in the May 29, 2022 murder of singer Sidhu Moosewala. In March last year, a private news channel ran two interviews of Bishnoi.
“Let it be investigated. It’s a matter of investigation. There are 73 cases filed against you,” a Bench led by Justice Bela M Trivedi said, refusing to interfere with the high court order.
While lodged in high-security Bathinda jail, Bishnoi had given two interviews to a private TV channel over video calls, leading to a controversy over the use of mobile phones by prison inmates. Now he is lodged in Sabarmati Jail in Gujarat.
The gangster’s counsel submitted that he was not heard by the high court before passing the order and that multiple witnesses had been examined but nothing was found against him.
The top court asked him to approach the high court.
In December 2023, the high court had ordered the registration of an FIR and probe by an SIT headed by IPS officer Prabodh Kumar into Bishnoi’s interviews after taking suo motu cognisance of the alleged use of mobile phones by inmates in jails.
