6 days ago
6 ‘associates' of Bishnoi acquitted in attempt to murder case
The Chandigarh District Court has acquitted six persons, reportedly associates of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, due to lack of evidence in an attempt to murder case.
Those acquitted are Monty Shah of Burail, Parvinder Wadhwa, Deepak Wadhwa, and Virendra Soni from Hanumangarh (Rajasthan), and Vinay Kalyan and Mohit Kumar from Kalka (Haryana). A seventh accused, Kuldeep Singh Ghosal, passed away during the trial, and thus proceedings against him were stopped.
All of them were booked five years ago under IPC Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and various sections of the Arms Act by the Sector-34 police station. The case was filed based on a complaint by Tirath Singh, who had alleged that the accused had tried to kill him and the brother of slain cable operator Sonu Shah, Parveen.
However, during the trial, the complainant turned hostile and refused to identify the accused in court.
Advocate Palwinder Singh Lucky, who represented Vinay, Parvinder, and Deepak, argued that the police had falsely implicated his clients and that they were not even present at the crime scene. He accused the police of fabricating a story to frame them.
As per allegations, Tirath Singh, a resident of Burail and business associate of Sonu Shah and his brother Praveen, was targeted shortly after Sonu's murder on September 28, 2020. Tirath had alleged that Monty Shah, holding a pistol, tried to kill him and Praveen, owing to personal enmity. He recounted that around 11.30 pm, while he was on a call outside his office, Monty approached him with a pistol. Tirath managed to escape into his office as shots were fired. Monty and his accomplices then fled in a car.
Based on Tirath's statement, the police had arrested Monty and the other accused. But with the complainant retracting his testimony in court, all accused have now been acquitted.
