SC rejects plea for CBI probe in Moosewala case

The court also began hearing a petition filed by the father of the main accused in the case, gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, seeking protection of his son who is currently in the custody of the Punjab Police.

The killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala should not be given a political colour, the Supreme Court said on Monday as it turned down a demand for probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case.

Sidhu Moosewala.

The court also began hearing a petition filed by the father of the main accused in the case, gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, seeking protection of his son who is currently in the custody of the Punjab Police.

“All parties are equal to us. Our view is that there is no place for political parties in such matters and it hardly matters who is from which party,” said a bench of justices Ajay Rastogi and Abhay S Oka. “The doors of this court are open to all but it (the case in hand) should not be given any political colour.”

The court was dealing with two petitions related to the incident of firing at Jawaharke village in Punjab’s Mansa district where Moosewala was shot dead on May 29 this year. The singer was a Congress leader and his security cover, along with at least 400 others, was withdrawn by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Punjab government just a day before the incident. While one of the petitions was filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jagjit Singh demanding a CBI probe into the killing, the other plea was filed by Bishnoi’s father Lawinder Singh.

The bench allowed petitioner Jagjit Singh to withdraw his plea after his lawyer Namit Saxena told the court: “I have instructions not to press this petition. If they (Punjab Police) were not taking steps, I would have pressed for my prayer (for CBI probe).” When the apex court wished to know the credentials of the petitioner, Saxena said that he belonged to the BJP and contested as a party candidate for the Mansa assembly seat earlier this year.

“Punjab police are taking care of the case. Why are you politicising the matter,” the bench told the petitioner. To which, Saxena said he was not trying to politicise the issue and had moved the petition initially when there was no headway in the probe.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Punjab government, informed the court that gangster Bishnoi has 57 first information reports (FIRs) of murder and extortion against him and that his father has now challenged the arrest warrant obtained by the Punjab Police to question him in the singer’s murder.

“We have information that he was in touch with international shooters to shoot the singer. For this we want to investigate him and took him into custody,” Singhvi said. “Now, he says that you cannot take me on an arrest warrant.”

Bishnoi’s father claimed there was serious threat to his son in custody and he feared that his son would be executed in an extrajudicial killing by the state police. Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhary — appearing for Bishnoi’s father along with advocate Nikhil Jain — said, “I apprehend my son’s safety. We have information that he (Lawrence Bishnoi) is being taken to Amritsar. Let his safety be ensured by the court.”

As Chaudhary was appearing through videoconferencing, the bench asked him to appear in person and posted the matter for July 18. “The state has already come forward in this matter. This means that they are more concerned about him (Bishnoi),” said the bench.

Bishnoi’s father in his petition gave reference to an order passed by the apex court on February 4, 2021 that stayed an order passed by the Punjab and Haryana high court allowing Bishnoi to be taken from Rajasthan to Chandigarh in connection with an offence registered in the Union territory following serious apprehension raised by him about his safety including the threat of being killed in a staged encounter.

According to the petition, in the Moosewala murder probe, the Mansa court issued arrest warrants against Bishnoi on June 13 and a day later, the chief metropolitan magistrate at Delhi’s Patiala House courts granted transit remand to Punjab Police to take him out of Delhi in violation of the apex court’s February 2021 order. On June 15, the magistrate court at Mansa remanded Bishnoi to police custody for a week which has been extended from time to time. The Punjab Police claimed that Bishnoi has admitted to being the mastermind behind Moosewala’s killing.