Two days after Chandigarh Police detained three gangsters at Hotel Lalit, where the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) cricket team was staying for their IPL tie with Punjab Kings XI on Thursday, police probe has revealed that the trio had rented a room at the hotel in a bid to meet former Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli, who is part of the RCB squad.
The three accused — Mohit Bhardwaj of Bapu Dham Colony, Chandigarh; Rohit Bhardwaj of Zirakpur, Punjab; and Naveen of Jhajjar, Haryana — were detained under preventive custody after a police personnel, deployed at the hotel for the cricket team’s security, identified Mohit, an aide of gangster Deepak Tinu.
Tinu is an accused in the Sidhu Moose Wala murder case and a close associate of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. As per police, Mohit was in touch with sacked Mansa CIA in-charge sub-inspector Pritpal Singh who had allegedly felicitated Tinu’s escape before he was nabbed again.
Ridiculing any threat theory, Chandigarh Police said Rohit, who currently lives in Gurugram, was to appear before a Panchkula court on April 18 in connection with a criminal case against him.
“Ahead of his visit, Rohit decided to stay at Hotel Lalit in Chandigarh, as the RCB team was also putting up there, and invited Mohit and Naveen to join him. They actually wished to meet and click pictures with Virat Kohli and other star cricketers. Before they could meet Virat, the alert cops deployed at the hotel took them in preventive custody,” said Mridul, superintendent of police (SP), City.
{{/usCountry}}“Ahead of his visit, Rohit decided to stay at Hotel Lalit in Chandigarh, as the RCB team was also putting up there, and invited Mohit and Naveen to join him. They actually wished to meet and click pictures with Virat Kohli and other star cricketers. Before they could meet Virat, the alert cops deployed at the hotel took them in preventive custody,” said Mridul, superintendent of police (SP), City.
{{/usCountry}}The SP added that the trio had submitted their original identity cards and nothing suspicious was found in their room. As per police, Rohit was previously booked in a firing case at a Sector-26 bar in 2018.
The trio was produced before a court that released them on bail.