Look, dress, cellphone and timing: Bishnoi’s new interview punctures Punjab DGP claims

On Friday, the DGP had said, “In the (older) interview, Bishnoi is sporting a long beard and a long hairdo which is quite visible. He is wearing a yellow t-shirt. When he was brought back to Bathinda jail, he was having a short haircut and a different attire. When his belongings were searched at the time of entry to jail, no yellow t-shirt was there”.

The fresh interview has punctured nearly all the claims made by the DGP who had termed the earlier interview as a “well though out conspiracy” by “certain forces”, to “defame Punjab” by trying to disturb peace and harmony in the state. To justify his claim that the March 14 interview might have been recorded earlier, Yadav had said that “the interview does not mention his recent friction with gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria or the incident in the Goindwal jail”.

In the fresh interview, however, Bishnoi is asked about the Goindwal jail clash and responds by saying that members of his gang retaliated after men linked to Bhagwanpuria came to attack one of them in the jail.

Notably, gangsters Mandeep Singh aka Toofan and Manmohan Singh aka Mohan, both of Bhagwanpuria group, were killed allegedly by members of the Bishnoi gang and three others injured in a clash among inmates lodged in the Goindwal Sahib Central Jail in Tarn Taran last month. All were accused in Moosewala murder case.

In the fresh interview, Bishnoi also “explains” his and his Canada-based associate Goldy Brar’s “friction” with Bhagwanpuria. He claimed the girlfriend of Bhagwanpura’s brother had taken two other accused in the Moosewala murder case — Jagroop Roopa and Manpreet Manu — to Attari where they were “killed in a police encounter”.

The DGP had also said ever since high security dead zone was set up in Bathinda jail, no mobile phones were recovered from there as the zone was comprehensively covered by jammers. “A sophisticated high-end technical solution has been installed in Bathinda jail since the last two years with the assistance of Centre. And under that jammers have been installed all over the jail,” he had claimed.

On Friday itself, two mobile phones were recovered from Bathinda jail. Bathinda SSP Gulneet Singh Khurana said, “The two basic phones were recovered from the area other than high security dead zone where A-category gangsters or terrorists are kept. The jammers are functional only in high security area and no phones have been ever recovered from there”.

Talking about Bishnoi, the DGP had said that he is “lodged in isolated cell in a high security zone of the jail, which is guarded round the clock by CRPF in the inner periphery and Punjab jails security guards in the outside periphery. There is round the clock CCTV surveillance”.

In the fresh interview, Bishnoi, however, claimed he had been using mobile phone in jail. He said he gets the mobile phone by getting it thrown inside from across the jail wall.

While denying that the previous interview was recorded in Punjab jails, the DGP had on Friday pointed out that “somewhere in the interview, there is mention of a jail outside Punjab”.

In the fresh interview, Bishnoi also fielded questions on gangster Deepak Tinu escaping from police custody – Tinu was re-arrested later – and was critical of self-styled Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh saying “ham apni dukaan chala rahe hain, vo apni dukaan chala raha hai (We are doing our business, he is doing his)” and asserting that in the 60 villages of Bishnoi community, which were located in Punjab, there was no secessionist resonance.

Lawrence also talked about targeting those involved in selling heroin or drugs.
Incidentally, in Friday DGP had requested “our friends in the media fraternity” to “kindly fact-check news…not to spread rumours so that we don’t become tools in the hands of unscrupulous elements trying to disturb peace and harmony in Punjab.”