Lawrence Bishnoi among 10 held in Sidhu Moosewala killing so far | Know case details
Chandigarh, June 16: Shubhdeep Singh, alias Sidhu Moosewala, a renowned Punjabi
singer, was shot at by unknown assailants at Jawaharke village in Punjab's Mansa district on May 29, 2022.
Shubhdeep Singh died on the way to the hospital. Two of his friends were injured in the shootout. An FIR in the case was registered and a Special Investigation Team was constituted under Jaskaran Singh, IPS, IGP, PAP, to conduct a thorough probe into the incident. The other members of the SIT are: Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, IPS, AIG, AGTF;
Gaurav Toora, IPS, SSP, Mansa; Dharamveer Singh, PPS, SP, Investigation, Mansa; Vishawajeet Singh, DSP, Investigation, Bathinda; and Prithipal Singh, in-charge, CIA Mansa.
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The SIT is working under the overall supervision of the Additional Director General of Police, Anti Gangster Task Force, Punjab.
Facts of the Case
Sidhu Moosewala had left his house at around 5 pm on May 29 in a Mahindra Thar vehicle along with his two friends, Gurwinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh to visit his close relative in a nearby village.
Since Sidhu Moosewala was facing a threat, he had been allotted two gunmen. However, on the day of the incident, he had left them at his house informing them that he will be back home in a short while. The slain was driving the Thar and his friend Gurpreet was sitting
on his left and Gurwinder was sitting on the rear seat. As the vehicle came out
of the house, there were some of his fans waiting outside his gate and he stopped
for a short while and clicked selfies with them. Thereafter, he drove his Jeep towards Jawaharke village.
However, soon, a Toyota Corolla and a White Bolero Jeep started following his
Jeep. When they reached Jawaharke Village, his Thar slowed down after taking a sharp turn, immediately a Toyota Corolla car hit the singer's Thar and forcibly stopped it. Soon, armed assailants started indiscriminate firing on Moosewala and his friends. Their accomplices in the Bolero jeep also fired shots on the singer and his friends. Thereafter, the assailants escaped on their vehicles towards Khara Barnala village.
During the incident, the door of the Toyota Corolla had got damaged, therefore the assailants in Toyota stopped a White Alto car and snatched it on a gunpoint and and
escaped towards Khara Barnala village, followed by the white Bolero Jeep.
However the Bolero jeep was found abandoned near Khayala village about 13
km from the place of the incident. Moosewala along with his friends were taken to the hospital where he was declared dead and his injured friends were referred to DMC, Ludhiana.
After the incident, a FIR was lodged on the statement of his father
Balkaur Singh, who alleged that his son has been killed on the instructions of
Lawrence Bishnoi, a known gangster and his gang members.
After the incident, several Facebook profiles under the names of Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar, Sachin Thapan etc. claimed responsibility for the killing of Moosewala as a revenge for the murders of Vicky Midhukhera and Gurlal Brar. The scene of the crime was visited by senior officers.
From the inspection of the abandoned vehicles used in the crime, several important pieces
of evidence were collected and teams were given the task to develop the leads. One of the important leads was the recovery of a petrol pump receipt, which was used to fill diesel from a petrol station near Fatehabad, Haryana, on May 25.
A team was immediately dispatched to the fuel station of Fatehabad, Haryana, to gather the CCTV Footage of that day. The same was procured and the one of the persons
who is suspected to be a shooter was later identified as Priyawarat of Haryana's Sonipat.
The CCTV footage was also procured from the route taken by the Bolero before
and after the filling of the diesel at the fuel station. Similarly the ownership of the Bolero was traced with the help of engine and chasis numbers. The white Alto which was snatched by the accused after the incident was found to have been abandoned on May 30 at 3:30 am near Dharamkot in Moga district.
The CCTV footage was collected and the route taken by the accused was identified.
Regarding the Toyota Corolla used in the incident, the registration number of the vehicle was found to be genuine and the owner was identified.
However the person on whose name an affidavit of purchase was recovered was not the actual owner, but had given his Aadhaar Card to Manpreet Singh @ Manna of Talwandi (gangster linked to Goldy Brar), who is lodged in Ferozepur Jail.
Based on an input by the AGTF, it was suspected that the Toyota
Corolla car was being used by Manpreet Singh @ Bhau, a relative of Manpreet Singh Manna. On checking the present whereabouts of Manpreet Bhau, it was learnt that he was in the area of Haridawar, Uttarakhand.
Accordingly a team was dispatched and Manpreet Singh Bhau was arrested on May 30 from Chamoli, Uttarakhand. Manpreet Bhau revealed that he delivered the Corolla car on the directions of Manpreet Singh Manna to two persons provided by Saraj Mintu, who are believed to be a part of the group of shooters, who executed the crime.
On the directions of the AGTF, Manpreet Manna was taken on production warrant on May 31. He disclosed that he had provided a Toyota Corolla car to Manpreet Bhau, who further delivered the car to two persons, suspected to be the shooters, on the directions of Saraj Mintu, who is a close aide of Goldy Brar and Sachin Thapan.
Similarly on the directions of AGTF, Saraj Mintu, a resident of Amritsar, an accomplice of Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, was taken on production warrant from Bathinda Jail on May 31.
During his interrogation, he revealed that he had directed Manpreet Bhau to provide the car to two of his men, Manu Kusa and Jagroop Singh, who were suspected to be the real shooters of Moosewala on the directions of Goldy Brar (currently in Canada) and Sachin Thapan.
Based on another input by the AGTF, Prabhdeep Sidhu alias Pabbi was arrested on June 3. He told in his interrogation that he had provided shelter to two accomplices of Goldy Brar, who had come and stayed with him and he had helped them to conduct the recce of Sidhu Moosewala’s house. He also visited the house and interacted with the security and checked the cameras etc.
Reliable input was shared with Moga regarding Monu Dagar, who was close accomplice of Goldy Brar and Lawrence Bishnoi and was brought on production warrant, who was interrogated and he revealed the names of two other shooters — Priyawarat and Ankit, who were provided by him on the directions of Goldy Brar.
He also disclosed that Pawan Bishnoi and Naseeb had procured the White Bolero Jeep used in the incident from Sadul Shaher and further handed over to the shooters
through one Keshav and had also provided them hideouts.
Based on technical inputs provided by the AGTF, Nikku and Sandeep Singh Kekda were
identified as the persons who were suspected to be present around the house of
the singer on May 29 around 3pm.
Sandeep Singh Kekda was arrested June 6. During his interrogation, he revealed that
Nikku Takhat Mal and his brother Bittu had been conducting a reccee of the movements of Moosewala and Nikku was in touch with Goldy Brar and Sachin Thapan.
On 29-05-2022, his brother Bittu had tasked Kekda to accompany
Nikku Takhat Mal on his motorcycle. They were present at the house of Moosewala
and when he came out of the gate of his house, Nikku and he both took a selfie
with the singer on Nikku’s mobile phone, who further made a video call to Sachin
and informed him that the singer had left his house without security and sitting on
the driver seat in the Black Thar Jeep.
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The Delhi Police had claimed and shared the names and pictures of the alleged shooters involved in the case. Among the names shared was that of Siddhesh Kamble alias Sourav Mahakaal and Santosh Jadhav of Maharashtra.
Mahakaal was arrested by the Maharashtra Police on June 8. A team of the AGTF was sent to Pune to question Mahakaal, who revealed that he was in touch with Goldy Brar and Vikram Brar, but he was not one of the shooters in the case.
Later, the Maharashtra police also arrested Santosh Jadhav and Navnath Suryavanshi from Gujarat on June 12. A team of the Punjab Police is currently interrogating the suspects for their involvement in the SMW case.
The investigation so far, has revealed that the arrested accused were acting on the directions of Lawrance Bishnoi and Canada-based Goldy Brar, Sachin Thapan, Anmol Bishnoi and Vikram Brar (now in Dubai).
Further, these gangsters had bluntly claimed responsibility for the murder
through Facebook profiles. Lawrance Bishnoi, Goldy Brar and others have been
nominated as accused and conspirators in this case along with their gang
members.
Who is Lawrence Bishnoi?
Lawrance Bishnoi is a dreaded gangster who has around 50 cases registered against him in the states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, Chandigarh and Punjab. He has been operating his gang from Delhi’s Tihar and Rajasthan jails with the help of his accomplices and indulging in extortion, murders, illicit gun running etc.
He has been associated with the gangsters of different states and is operating at pan India level now. He is also accused of issuing death threats to actor Salman Khan and also got a reccee done for the same. He had managed to get himself shifted to Rajasthan Jail and then Delhi’s Tihar Jail to avoid staying in the custody of Punjab Police.
While being lodged in the jail, he has got several murders and extortions committed in Punjab and Chandigarh for which he was nominated as an accused.
Earlier too, the warrants of his production were issued by the courts in Chandigarh and in Punjab, however he had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court by taking a plea of his security in the custody of the Chandigarh Police and Punjab Police.
However in the present case, with the guidance and sustained efforts of
the office of the Advocate General, Punjab fresh warrants of arrest of Lawrence
Bishnoi were procured from the court of CJM Mansa in the Moosewala Case.
So far, the SIT has arrested 10 persons, including Lawrence Bishnoi, for their involvement in murder case and has also identified four shooters involved in the incident.
Find below the list of the accused arrested so far
-PTC News
