Panel set up to probe jailed gangster’s interviews

Chandigarh: The Punjab government has constituted a two-member committee to inquire into the reasons behind gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, presently lodged in high security Bathinda central jail, giving two interviews to a private channel last month.
Special DGP of anti-drug special task force Kuldeep Singh would head the committee, while ADGP prisons K Chandra Sekhar would be the other member. The committee has been directed to submit its report by April 12.
“Two interviews of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi went viral on TV channels/social media. In the given circumstances, there was a need to hold a detailed inquiry into the matter. Therefore, an inquiry committee was set up. Previous committee has been revived as follows,” reads the order issued by chief secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua on March 29, which the government had kept under wraps.
A private news channel had aired Bishnoi’s first interview on March 14 and the second on March 17 while he was inside central jail Bathinda. The Punjab government had claimed that the interviews were not conducted in any of the jails in the state but in Rajasthan, where he was taken on production warrant in a case in February. However, even the Jaipur police denied that Bishnoi could have given any interview under its tight security.