Sidhu Moosewala Murder : Supreme Court Questions Punjab Police On Custody Of Lawrence Bishnoi In Multiple FIRs

The Supreme Court on India on Thursday asked the Punjab State government how many First Information Reports were registered against gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and for how many FIRs he has been in police custody since June 13, 2022.

A Bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and BV Nagarathna was considering a plea moved by the father of Lawrence Bishnoi challenging the transit remand order issued by a Delhi Court for production of his son in Punjab in the murder of the Punjab music star, Sidhu Moosewala. During the hearing today, the Bench orally observed, "Please advise your client (government), your action must be fair. Treat him like (Bishnoi) a citizen. For one FIR, keep him for 10 days, in the second FIR you keep this for another 10 days. What is this?.......You can keep him in police custody. Nobody can question it. But the manner in which it is going on... Our request is please tell us how many FIRs are registered against him, for which FIRs he has been in custody since June 13th, what is your future plan?"

Further the bench observed that he would definitely face the consequences for his actions but "not in this fashion".

Moosewala, who had contested the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections as a Congress candidate from Mansa seat, was murdered on May 29, this year. At that time, Bishnoi in Tihar jail, Delhi in connection with cases related to other organized crimes. The Punjab police alleged that Bishnoi is the mastermind behind Moosewala's elimination and that the crime was plotted in Tihar jail.

What Transpired In Court Today

During the hearing, the advocate appearing for the petitioner pointed out that his son had been under the Punjab Police's custody for the past three months. And that, they shift him from one place to another, digging up old cases.

"I'm in the custody of Punjab Police since June 13……From Mansa, I'm taken to Amritsar for old cases. If someone makes disclosure for a case 2020 and there are arresting me today", it was argued.

During the hearing, the court said that it would tag all matters moved by Bishnoi and his father together.

As the matter progressed, the bench asked the counsel appearing for the State government for how many months they intended to keep him in custody.

"You took him under Custody on June 13th. We are in September 1. Please take instructions on what are your plans? How many months do you plan to keep him? How many cases registered against him, what period you kept him in police custody, tell us on next the next date of hearing."

The plea argues that the order passed by Judicial Magistrate in Mansa on June 15, 2022 by which Bishnoi was remanded to police custody for 7 days was patently illegal and was in violation of the principles of arrest and detention. It was also submitted that his son was not supplied with the grounds of arrest, a memo of arrest was not drawn out, relatives of Bishnoi were not informed with regard to having him arrested. During a previous hearing, the State of Punjab told the Supreme Court that the police wanted to investigate the alleged conspiracy by Bishnoi with an accused abroad, in connection with Moosewala's murder.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the State had told the Court that Bishnoi is facing 57 FIRs and that he was escorted to Mansa with 100 policemen.

Case Title: Lawinder Kumar v. GNCTD | WP [Criminal] 241/2022

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