UP Cong leader Pintu Tiwari innocent in 3-yr-old case: SIT

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 1

UP Congress leader Sandeep, alias Pintu Tiwari, who was arrested for allegedly helping a group of Punjab gangsters in September 2017, has been found “innocent” by a special investigation team (SIT) of the Bureau of Investigations, which is headed by IG (Crime) G Nageshwar Rao.

2017 arrest for ‘aiding’ gangsters

• UP Congress leader Pintu Tiwari was arrested in 2017 by anti-terror squad for allegedly giving money and weapons to Punjab gangsters
• A supplementary challan was presented in the Amritsar trial court, while a status report was submitted in the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently
• The SIT claimed the charge of Tiwari facilitating gangster Gopi Ghanshampuria’s release by bribing UP cops couldn’t be established as the UP Police never arrested him

Tiwari was arrested by the anti-terror squad of the Punjab Police after a case was registered in this regard with the State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) here.

While a supplementary challan was presented in the trial court in Amritsar, a status report was submitted in the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently. The SIT was formed after Pintu’s mother Prema Tiwari approached the DGP claiming he was innocent.

Pintu’s arrest by the Punjab Police team, headed by then chief of anti-terrorist squad IG Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, had ruffled many a feather as he was considered close to a top Congress leader in Delhi.

Following the arrest, the police had claimed Tiwari used to provide logistic support such as money and weapons to a group of Punjab gangsters, besides offering shelter to some other gangsters.

The arrest came following the mysterious disappearance of gangster Gopi Ghanshampuria, a prime suspect in the Nabha jail break case.

It was alleged Tiwari facilitated the release of Gopi, who was reportedly arrested by the UP special task force. The UP Government had held a high-level probe in this regard. After probing the allegations levelled against him, the SIT found out Pintu had made phone calls to certain police officers to enquire about Gopi only at the insistence of a friend and Congress leader, Harjinder Singh Kahlon, and that he did not know about Gopi at the time.

It pointed out that though Pintu, Kahlon and another individual, Amandeep, had talked about securing Gopi’s release by paying money to the UP Police, there was substantial evidence to suggest the arrest was not made by the UP Police as per their report. Tiwari was made an accused only on the basis of call details and

social media chatting of the three, it said.

When Gopi was not arrested by the UP Police, the question of paying them money did not arise, the SIT pointed out. Also, the SSOC failed to place enough evidence on record to prove the allegation. The SIT pointed out no evidence was found regarding the allegations of sheltering gangsters, supply of weapons, smuggling drugs and making arrangements of their stay. The HC has fixed August 27 as the next date of hearing, while the trial court will take up

the case on July 2.