DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today urged the union government to order a high level probe into the manner in which notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi was operating his criminal network from jail and even compromising national security by indulging in a video call with Pakistan based gangster Shahzad Bhatti from a jail in Gujarat.

Asserting that this was not the first time that Lawrence had compromised national security, senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia said "the sequence of events since the last several years indicate that the gangster has a free rein in jail whether he is incarcerated in Delhi, Punjab or Gujarat. This needs to be stopped immediately and the central government should take concrete steps in this regard".

Giving details, Mr Bikram Majithia said Lawrence planned and executed the broad daylight assassination of noted singer Sidhu Moose Wala from Tihar jail in Delhi which is under the control of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. "Sophisticated weapons were used to murder Moose Wala which could have only come from across the border with Pakistan through use of drones' '. He said even after Moose Wala's murder the gangster gave an interview to a prominent journalist from jail and when the Punjab Police tried to deny that the interview had been conducted from a State jail the gangster gave another interview with the same clothes to prove his point. "Even though chief minister Bhagwant Mann formed a SIT to probe the matter after a petition was filed in court, there have been zero results in the case". Stating that Lawrence continued with his criminal activities from jail, Mr Majithia said this was seen when the gangster's hit men struck actor Salman Khan's house a few months back. "Lawrence continues to threaten Salman Khan and has planned multiple attacks on him".

He said the recent incident in which Lawrence had done a video call with Pakistani gangster Shahzad Bhatti from a jail in Gujarat indicated that his collusion with anti-national elements in Pakistan was active and alive. "Lawrence possesses the capability to import arms from Pakistan through drones or other means and use them to further his criminal empire. This is a direct threat to national security and should be tackled effectively".

Mr Majithia also demanded a thorough central probe into the case involving 43,000 calls made by gangsters from jails in Punjab in the last few years.
(editor@dailyworld.in)