Gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi, Sampat Nehra charged with murder bid in Panchkula hospital firing case

Notorious gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Sampat Nehra and their aides were produced in a Panchkula district court amid tight security for framing of charges in two criminal cases that took place in 2017.

While Bishnoi is presently lodged in the Bharatpur jail in Rajasthan, his close aide Nehra was brought from the Patiala jail.

On June 17, 2017, Nehra along with two other gang members freed their accomplice, Deepak, alias Tinu, from police custody at the Panchkula civil hospital in Sector 6. They used pepper spray on the hospital staff and police and opened fire to flee with Tinu, who was brought there for treatment from the Ambala jail.

The second incident took place on July 3, when three members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang opened fired outside a builder's house in Sector 2, Panchkula. Complainant Anil Kumar Bhalla came out of his house on hearing gunshots around 3.30am. In all, six shots had been fired at his house.

While Bishnoi has been named in both cases, Nehra is accused in the hospital incident.

Their counsel, Ketan Khurana, said the court of additional district and sessions judge Narender Sura framed charges against all those named in the two cases. The trial will begin on December 19.

In the hospital case, charges were framed against the two gangsters besides their seven aides — Joginder, alias Joga; Satbir Singh; Inderpreet Singh, alias Parry; Mandeep Singh; Deepak, alias Tinu; Deepak Pundir; and Shubhamveer — under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 223 (escape from confinement or custody negligently suffered by public servant), 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under the Arms Act.

Meanwhile, in the firing case, charges were framed against Bishnoi, Inderpreet, Deepak, alias Tinu, Vinit Saini and Bharat Bhushan, alias Bhola Shooter, under Sections 307, 120B, 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees or upwards) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC besides the Arms Act.

In the arguments that concluded on November 6, the defence had sought dropping of the attempt to murder charge, citing that the nature of incidents did not warrant it. However, the court decided to include it. If convicted, the gangsters face up to 10 years in jail.

While Bhola Shooter, who is lodged in the Faridkot jail, was produced in court through video conferencing, all other were brought to the courts complex in Sector 1, Panchkula, amid tight vigil. Three assistant commissioners of police supervised the security. Three station house officers along with their teams were deputed inside the complex, while both crime branch and detective staff teams of the Panchkula police were keeping vigil outside the court. Personnel of the Haryana police special task force and Punjab Police were also present.

This was third time in the past couple of months that Bishnoi was brought to the tricity on production warrants. He was once brought by the Mohali police and more recently by the Chandigarh police. He remained in the news recently for ordering the hit on property dealer and rival Sonu Shah in Burail, Chandigarh, on September 28.

Nehra, who was arrested from Hyderabad last year, had disclosed during his police remand in Panchkula that Bishnoi handles all gang activities, arranging everything from money to guns to logistics, from the jail. Nehra had confessed to 22 cases of murder, attempt to murder and extortion following his arrest.