Targeted killings accused British national Jaggi Johal’s gold chain, ring missing from Punjab Police custody: Lawyer

“We will be moving the Punjab and Haryana High Court if the police fail to return the gold chain and ring. The chain holds emotional value for Johal because it was gifted to him by his late mother. We have also submitted the photos of Johal while wearing that chain before his arrest,” said Manjhpur.

Johal is currently lodged in a jail in Delhi in connection with other cases.

According to the reply submitted by Inspector Jatinder Singh, Station House Officer, Baghapurana Police Station, in the court of Additional Session Judge Bishan Saroop on October 14, they found Johal’s mobile phone lying in the malkhana (room in a police station where case properties are kept).

SHO Singh said “Rs 5000 in cash, gold chain and a ring were not handed over to the current Moharrir Head Constable (MHC)” when he was given charge of the case.

“The matter has been reported to senior officers,” SHO said in his reply, adding that assistant sub-inspector Tarsem Singh, who was earlier handling the case “, has now expired.”

“A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to investigate the matter and locate missing articles,” he said.

The court, in its order dated October 28, directed SHO Singh to report further action taken by senior police officers in the matter.

In custody since November 4, 2017, Johal, a British national who originally belongs to Punjab’s Jalandhar district, was first booked by the Moga police in an alleged terror funding case registered at Baghapurana Police Station on December 17, 2016. He was acquitted in the case by a local court in Moga in March this year.

However, he has been named as the prime accused in eight other cases of alleged terror activities, including six murders (a series of targeted killings of people from different faiths) in Punjab in 2016-17. The killings are being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The cases pending against Johal in the NIA court include the murders of RSS leaders Jagdish Gagneja in Jalandhar and Ravinder Gosain in Ludhiana; the double murder of Dera Sacha Sauda follower Satpal and his son Ramesh in Khanna; and the killings of Shiv Sena leader Durga Prasad, church pastor Sultan Masih, and Hindu Takht leader Amit Sharma in Ludhiana.