In a major embarrassment to the Punjab police, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday rebuffed the Punjab police’s claim that the central agency was approached for starting the process to issue Red Corner Notice against Goldy Brar on May 19 — ten days before the murder of Sidhu Moosewala, who was killed May 29.
The central premier agency, in fact, claimed that the proposal for issuance of Red Corner Notice against Goldy Brar was received on May 30 at 12:25 pm from Bureau of Investigation, Punjab Police, through an e-mail, in which a copy of letter, dated May 19, 2022, was attached.
The CBI’s clarification came a day after the Punjab police made an apparent attempt tp lay blame on the central probing agency for delaying the process to extradite the gangster Goldy Brar — who claimed responsibility for killing renowned Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala on behalf of the Lawrence Bishnoi Gang.
The CBI maintained that the proposal for issuance of Red Notice (RCN) against Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy was received on May 30, 2022 through e-mail. “In this e-mail dated May 30, 2022, a copy of letter dated May 19, 2022, was attached. Also a hard copy of the same proposal was received from Punjab police in IPCU, CBI, New Delhi, on May 30, 2022,” claimed the CBI.
“After processing for confirmation of pre-requisite requirements, the red notice proposal was forwarded expeditiously to INTERPOL (Headquarters), Lyon, on June 2, 2022,” said the CBI.
It added, “As per above proposal of Punjab Police, request for issuance of Red Notice (RCN) relates to two cases of Punjab Police during the year 2020 and 2021 vide FIR dated November 12, 2020, and other FIR dated February 18, 2021 — both FIRs are of Police Station City Faridkot, Faridkot district (Punjab). Even this request was received in IPCU CBI on May 30, 2022, whereas as per information in public domain, murder of Sidhu Moose Wala took place on May 29, 2022.”
The CBI, in its official statement released on Thursday stated: “As per media reports, it was mentioned that Punjab police had forwarded a proposal on 19th May, 2022, to CBI, for issuance of Red Notice (RCN) from INTERPOL in the name of Goldy Brar, to pave way for his Extradition.”
“It is stated that the International Police Cooperation Unit (IPCU) of CBI, New Delhi, coordinates the requests of sister law enforcement agencies for informal coordination through INTERPOL including requests for issuance of colour coded notices. IPCU, CBI checks the requests for eligibility as per Rules of Processing Data of INTERPOL so that the request is complete and the notices are issued early. The final issuance of notices is done by INTERPOL (HQ), Lyon (France) in line with Rules for Processing of Data,” said the CBI.
The CBI stated that request for issuance of Red Notice against Pak-based gangster-terrorist Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda has already been sent to INTERPOL (HQ) Lyon.
The central probing agency further clarified that INTERPOL channels are used for informal international police to police cooperation and a Red Notice is neither mandatory nor a pre-requisite for sending extradition request more so when the location of subject is known.
Notably, the Punjab police, a day before, had claimed the initiation of the process to bring back gangster Goldy Brar 10 days before Sidhu Moosewala’s murder. The police had claimed that it had sent the proposal on May 19 to the CBI to issue a Red Corner notice against Goldy Brar that would pave the way for his extradition to India.
The police had also claimed that it had also sought, on May 5 this year, issuance of Red Corner Notices (RCNs) from the CBI against the Pak-based wanted gangster-terrorist Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda, considered close to BKI chief Wadhawa Singh and a close associate of Lakhvir Singh Landa — the key conspirator of the RPG attack on Punjab Police’s intelligence headquarters in Mohali on May 9.
Punjab police spokesperson had maintained that the proposal is under process at the level of the CBI, Central National Bureau for liaison with Interpol. On the execution of the Red Corner Notice, the extradition proposal shall be moved through MHA and MEA, the spokesperson had added.
