Court frames charges against five gangsters

Strap: Lavi Deora murder case

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, October 1

In the killing of a suspected gangster, the court of Additional Sessions Judge, Faridkot, on Tuesday framed charges against five gangsters — Bharat Bhushan, alias Bhola Shooter, at present lodged in Hoshiarpur jail, Haripal Singh in Faridkot jail, Jagdeep Singh, alias Jaggu, and Deepak Kumar in Patiala jail and Sampant Nehra in Bikaner jail.

It is alleged that in an inter-gang rivalry, these gangsters had killed Lavi Deora on July 15, 2017, at a mela in Kotkapura town of the district. It is alleged that all these accused belong to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and they are already facing criminal cases in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

In this murder case, the police had booked Bhola Shooter for the crime. Further investigation into the case by the police led to the detection of the involvement of Deepak and Sampat Nehra. Deepak had earlier escaped from police custody at General Hospital in Sector 6 of Panchkula on June 17, 2017, with the help of Sampat and others.

Deepak, alias Tinu, is facing over two dozen criminal cases, including 10 murder cases. He was earlier accused of firing at Delhi policemen. Some of these gang members have made shorts films on their crimes and glorified themselves in videos, which they uploaded on social media network, mocking the investigating agencies.

Killing of Lavi Deora was the fallout of two friends turning foes (gangsters). Hailing from Kotkapura town, Lavi Deora and Bhola Shooter were earlier nominated as co-accused in many criminal cases in the area. But, now for some time, there was a competition for supremacy in the region among them that they both parted their ways.

While Deora’s brother is already in jail for his involvement in some criminal activities, Lavi Deora was released from the jail on bail about two week before his murder. In a complaint to the police after the murder of his son, Bunty Deora, father of Lavi Deora had alleged that Bhola Shooter was envious of the growing clout of his son in the region.

It is alleged that Haripal Singh, a resident of Kotkapura, had provided shelter and logistic support to Bhola Shooter in the killing of Lavi Deora.

On September 8 last month, when a 16-year-old boy, a Class XI student, fell prey to a deadly ‘war’ between two rival gangs in Kotkapura, the police had registered a murder and attempt to murder case against three persons, including Bhola Shooter. It was alleged that despite him being lodged in jail, Bhola was operating his gang activities from the fortified jail with the help of a mobile phone.