Police on Wednesday arrested Shiv Sena (Hind) leaders Rohit Sawhney and Sanchit Malhotra along with their four accomplices for cooking up stories of threat from Khalistani elements to seek more security.
The police also claimed that the accused were hatching a conspiracy to create a rift between Hindus and Sikhs using social networking sites.
While Sawhney is the national general secretary of the outfit, Sanchit is his brother-in-law and district president of the outfit. Maninder Singh alias Goldy of Meharban village, Prem Sagar of Baldev Nagar and Gurpreet Singh alias Sonu of Golden Avenue Colony are the other accused. One of their accomplices Baljit Singh is on the run.
Sanchit had shown fake threat messages to the police to get more security for himself and his brother-in-law, said Ludhiana police commissioner RN Dhoke.
“On August 12, Sanchit lodged a complaint stating that he and Rohit were receiving threats from Sikh radicals. They claimed that two suspects had thrown pamphlets at the house-cum-office of Sanchit in Sardar Nagar.The CCTV footage of the incident was also submitted to police,” said Dhoke.
On September 27, Sanchit told police that he had received a message on his WhatsApp from an unknown number wherein radicals had threatened to kill him and Rohit within 10 days. Thereafter, police provided temporary security cover to Sanchit while Sawhney already had gunmen since 2015.
Dhoke said he asked additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP, city 1) Ratan Singh Brar to look into the case. When police started tracing the mobile phone number from which Sanchit was receiving threats, the conspiracy came to the fore.
“First Sanchit, Rohit and their friend Baljeet Singh got the threat pamphlets printed. Then Prem Sagar and Goldy wore turbans, covered their faces and threw the pamphlets outside Sanchit’s house. Sanchit also gave money to Goldy to purchase a phone and a SIM to send threat messages on his WhatsApp number,” said Dhoke.
“Goldy purchased a phone from a shop in Vardhaman Nagar for Rs 1,000 and got a SIM card using fake ID proof. Since Goldy is an illiterate, he asked his friend Gurpreet Singh alias Sonu to type and send the messages on Sanchit’s number,” he added. After this, Rohit appointed Goldy as the president of the east constituency of the outfit.
In another complaint, Rohit alleged threats from gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, who is currently in Amritsar jail. However, so far, these allegations have also not been proved.
A case under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 177 (furnishing false information), 182 (false information, with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 193 (false evidence), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC has been registered against them.
