Majithia calls for CM Mann’s resignation after Bishnoi interview in police custody

Shiromani Akali Dal leader says being in-charge of law and order, Punjab CM should quit as it’s been proved that gangster gave interview while in CIA custody at Kharar in 2022

A day after the Punjab and Haryana high court termed the interview of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in Punjab Police custody “disquieting”, Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia gunned for chief minister Bhagwant Mann, alleging that law and order in the state had collapsed.

Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia appeared before a special investigation team (SIT) of Punjab Police in Patiala on Thursday in connection with a drug case registered against him in 2021. (HT file photo)

After appearing before a special investigation team in Patiala on Thursday, Majithia said: “Being in charge of law and order in Punjab, Bhagwant Mann should resign as it has now been established that one of the TV interviews of Bishnoi, the main accused in the murder of singer Sidhu Moosewala in 2022, was conducted in Punjab Police custody on the premises of its special branch, the crime investigation agency (CIA), at Kharar in Mohali district.”

The interview of Bishnoi, who faces 71 criminal cases in Punjab and has been convicted in four, was conducted virtually on the night of September 3, 2022, and aired by a private news channel. Observing that the interview tends to glorify crime and criminals and there were nearly 12 million views on YouTube, which could have had an adverse effect on the impressionable minds, the court said it is possible that there could have been a spurt in crime in Punjab after the interview was telecast.

Majithia said that he had been summoned in the 2021 drug case by the SIT for the 11th time and was appearing for the seventh time before the SIT. “I am not like Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who did not appear before the Enforcement Directorate despite being summoned nine times. I am a law abiding citizen. However, these summons are politically motivated,” Majithia added.

Majithia was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on December 20, 2021, during the Charanjit Singh Channi-led Congress government’s tenure.