Calling a gangster’s access to a mobile phone to make a ransom call while he was allegedly in jail “a matter of grave concern”, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the additional director general of police (prisons) to conduct an inquiry into the issue and fix responsibility, if any. The court was hearing a complaint by a Military Engineer Services (MES) contractor who allegedly got an extortion call from gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his associate. The order was passed on November 6 by the bench of Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj while disposing of a protection plea filed by Sukhbir Singh Brar, a MES contractor. Brar, through his counsel Varun Girdhar, had moved the high court seeking directions to the State of Punjab to restore the security protection provided to him. As per Brar, on October 18, 2022, he had received a phone call from a person named Deepak Tinu, who had further connected a conference call with gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. Brar submitted that he was asked to obey Tinu’s orders and threatened that otherwise, he and his family would be killed. A first information report (FIR) was registered under charges of extortion and criminal intimidation at Kulgari police station in Ferozepur district, following which two security guards were provided to Brar. Earlier this year, one of the security guards was withdrawn, prompting Brar to move the high court. Deputy Superintendent of Police (Security) Ajay Kumar filed a reply to the petition, stating that the accused in this case have been arrested in different cases and are locked up in different jails. After registration of the above case, Brar did not receive any threatening calls and did not give any written application to the police about receiving threats. In light of the situation, approximately four months ago, one security personnel was reduced on April 6, 2023, Kumar said. At present, one security person is deployed with the petitioner on a temporary basis and there is no need to give him more security, Kumar said in his affidavit at the high court. On hearing the matter, Justice Bhardwaj held that the state counsel fairly concedes that Bishnoi was in police custody and was lodged in a high-security jail at the 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 court said. The bench said that as the state counsel was unsure as to whether Bishnoi was in custody or not on the said date, the matter should be brought to the notice of the additional director general of police (Prisons) to conduct an inquiry and to fix responsibility, if any, about the occurrence of the event of an inmate having access to mobile or phone number. “The status report be filed before this court within a period of 8 weeks from today,” the court ordered.
