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Goindwal jail clash: Bragging video Superintendent among 5 officials granted bail
A local court on Monday granted bail to five officials, including superintendent of the Goindwal central jail, a day after they were arrested for their alleged connivance and negligence after video clips showing jailed gangsters celebrating the killing of rival gang members from the prison went viral.
TARN TARAN
A local court on Monday granted bail to five officials, including superintendent of the Goindwal central jail, a day after they were arrested for their alleged connivance and negligence after video clips showing jailed gangsters celebrating the killing of rival gang members from the prison went viral.
The court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Khadoor Sahib, Gurpreet Kaur granted bail to officials after their counsels pleaded that the offences are bailable.
Nearly a week after the Goindwal central jail clash, which left two gangsters associated with the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang dead, two video clips, apparently shot on mobile phones in the prison soon after the clash, had surfaced on Sunday.
Superintendent Iqbal Singh Brar, additional superintendent Vijay Kumar, assistant superintendent Harish Kumar, and assistant sub inspector (ASIs) Joginder Singh and Harchand Singh were arrested and suspended on Sunday evening. The government had also suspended two more officials of the high security jail — additional superintendent Jaspal Singh Khaira and head constable Sawinder Singh.
A case under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, Section 52 of the Prisons Act, Sections 506 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at the Goindwal Sahib police station.
Initially, the case was registered against jail inmates, all associates of Lawrence Bishnoi gang, including Manpreet Singh alias Bhau, Sachin Bhiwani alias Sachin Chaudhary, Ankit Latti alias Ankit Serra, Kashish alias Kuldeep, Rajinder alias Joker, Hardeep Singh alias Mamma, Baldev Singh alias Nikku, Deepak alias Mundi and Malkit Singh alias Kita.
In the first video clip, Bishnoi’s close associate Sachin Bhiwani is seen introducing himself apparently using front camera of the cellphone. The video clip also showed two persons, ostensibly gangsters Manmohan Singh alias Mohna and Mandeep Singh alias Tufan, lying on the ground in pool of blood on the prison premises. An apparent associate of Bhiwani is also seen bragging in the video clip.
The second video clip shows Bhiwani in changed cloths along with his associates, including Ankit Sirsa, celebrating the killing of their rival gangsters. In this clip, the gangsters are also seen taking Moose Wala’s name.
After killing Moose Wala, the same gang members had made a video clip purportedly showing their celebration and claiming responsibility.
“The police sought two-day remand of the officials citing that they want to verify how the smartphones were being used by the gangsters inside the prison,” said advocate Deepak Arora, one of the counsels of the accused.
He said: “We contended that the mobile phones used in the jail have already been recovered and there is no recovery pending from the arrested accused. Similarly, the sections imposed in the case are all bailable, and our clients are ready to cooperate in the police investigation. The court agreed to our arguments and granted bails to the officers.”
The court has also observed the directions passed by the Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar with respect to procedure for arrest shall be applicable to offences punishable with less than or up to seven years of imprisonment, Arora said.
Meanwhile, police record shows that soon after the viral video, ASIs Joginder Singh and Harchand Singh were arrested and the other three senior jail officials were nabbed on the basis of the confessional statement of Joginder and Harchand. It was not immediately clear that what was the confessional statement of the two ASIs.
