A supposed video of a chat between gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and cow vigilante Monu Manesar was denied by the Punjab jail department on Monday in Chandigarh. The footage, which purportedly shows Bishnoi and Manesar on a video call, quickly gained traction online. Bishnoi is seen chatting with another inmate in the footage.
Bishnoi is being investigated for multiple crimes in Punjab, one of which is the murder of musician Sidhu Moosewala. The police in Rajasthan have arrested Manesar on charges of murdering two Muslim men in February and inciting recent riots in his home state of Haryana. On September 12th, Haryana Police made an arrest on Manesar.
The Punjab jail authorities issued a statement on Monday denying media claims that Bishnoi had used a cell phone from within the Bathinda jail.
The alleged video’s release prompted the Inspector General of Prisons in Punjab to launch an investigation
A recent video circulating on social media shows #MonuManesar and Bholu Dhana in a video call with #LawrenceBishnoi and Raju Basoudiya. The question arises about how Lawrence managed to have a phone while being in jail for the past 10 years.pic.twitter.com/40bt22htDw
— Anil Tiwari (@Anil_Kumar_ti) September 16, 2023
The investigation reportedly uncovered the identity of the culprit seated next to Bishnoi in the video as Rajkumar alias Raju Bishodhi, as stated in the statement. According to the document, between January 25, 2021, and February 22, 2021, Rajkumar spent 28 days in the Sri Muktsar Sahib district jail.
The statement said that Bishnoi was held in Faridkot central jail until 2018, at which point he was transferred to the custody of law enforcement in another state.
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On September 24, 2022, he was transferred from jails in different states to the central jail in Bathinda. He was then turned over to the Gujarat Police on August 24 of this year, according to the report. The video was not shot in a prison in Punjab, according to the IG (prisons), because Bishnoi and Raju Bishodhi never shared a cell.