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Know current status of Sidhu Moosewala murder case: Punjab Police shares all facts

Babushahi Bureau

Chandigarh, June 16, 2022:

A day after taking the custody of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, Punjab Police has shared the current status of the murder case of Shubhdeep Singh @ Sidhu Moosewala, renowned Punjabi singer, by disclosing all facts.

A small clue found in the vehicle used in the crime followed by technical inputs helped the Punjab Police to unveil the trail of events that occurred before the murder of renowned Punjabi Singer Sidhu Moosewala, which led to the arrest of 10 accused persons including the main conspirator Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. The Police have also identified four shooters involved in the crime.

Sidhu was attacked with firearms by unknown assailants on 29-05-2022 at Village Jawaharke District Mansa. Shubhdeep Singh died on the way to the hospital and two of his friends were injured in the shootout. A case FIR No. 103, Dt. 29-05-2022 u/s 302, 307, 341, 148, 149, 427, 120B IPC & 25 Arms Act PS City 1 Mansa, District Mansa has been registered and a Special Investigation Team has been constituted under Jaskaran Singh, IPS, IGP, PAP to conduct a thorough probe into the incident and investigate the aforementioned case in a scientific and professional manner. The other members of SIT are:

1. Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, IPS, AIG, AGTF
2. Gaurav Toora, IPS, SSP, Mansa
3. Dharamveer Singh, PPS, SP, Investigation, Mansa
4. Vishawajeet Singh, DSP, Investigation, Bathinda
5. Prithipal Singh, Incharge, CIA Mansa.

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 05:00 PM in the evening of May 29th in a Mahindra Thar vehicle along with his two friends, Gurwinder Singh & Gurpreet Singh to visit his close relative in a nearby village. Since Sidhu Moosewala was facing a threat he had been allotted two gunmen by the orders of the security wing, Punjab Police accordingly Constable Vipandeep Singh No. 9/521 and Constable Baljinder Singh 7/568 were detailed for his protection. However, on the 29th of May, he had left them at his house informing them that he will be back home in a short while.

He was driving the Thar Jeep 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 some of the fans. Thereafter, he drove his Jeep towards Jawaharke village. His jeep was followed by a Toyota Corolla car and a white Bolero Jeep. When they reached Jawaharke Village, his Thar Jeep slowed down after taking a sharp turn, immediately a Toyota corolla car hit the Thar Jeep and forcibly stopped it, immediately armed assailants started indiscriminate firing on Sidhu and his friends. Their accomplices in the Bolero jeep also fired shots on Sidhu and his friends. Thereafter, the assailants escaped on their vehicles towards village Khara Barnala. During the incident, the door of the Toyota corolla had got damaged therefore the assailants in the Toyota corolla stopped a White Alto car and at gunpoint forcibly snatched the Alto 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.

Sidhu along with his friends was taken to the hospital where he was declared dead and two other injured were referred to DMC, Ludhiana.

After the incident, an 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 the Punjabi singer as 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.

HOW EVENTS UNFOLDED 

One of the important leads was the recovery of a Petrol Pump receipt that was used to fill diesel from a petrol pump near Fatehabad on 25-05- 2022. A team was dispatched to the petrol station of Fatehabad to gather the CCTV Footage of that day. The same was procured and one of the persons who is suspected to be a shooter was later identified as Priyawarat of Sonipat. The CCTV footage was also procured from the route taken by the Bolero before and after the filling of the diesel at the Petrol Pump station. Similarly, the ownership of the Bolero was traced with the help of the engine number and chassis number.

The white Alto which was snatched by the accused after the incident was found to have been abandoned on 30-05-2022 at 03:30 AM near Dharamkot in the 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 Toyota Corolla car 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 input by AGTF, it was suspected that the Toyota corolla car was being used by Manpreet Singh @ Bhau, a relative of above said Manpreet Singh @ Manna. On checking the present whereabouts of Manpreet @ Bhau it was learned that he was in the area of Haridawar, Uttarakhand. Accordingly, a team was dispatched and Manpreet Singh @ Bhau was arrested on 30-05-2022 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 carried out the crime.

On the directions of AGTF, Manpreet @ Manna was taken on a production warrant on 31-05-2022. 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 associate of Jaggu Bhagwanpuria) was taken production warrant on 31-05-2022 from Bathinda Jail. During his interrogation, he revealed that he directed Manpreet @ Bhau to provide the car to two of his men, Manu Kusa r/o Village Kussa, Moga and Jagroop Singh @ Roopa r/o Village Rumana, Amritsar Rural who were suspected to be the real shooters, on the directions of Goldy Brar (currently in Canada) and Sachin Thapan r/o Dattarnwali District Fazilka.

Based on another input by AGTF, Prabhdeep Sidhu alias Pabbi was arrested on 03-06-2022. He told in his interrogation that he had provided shelter to two associates of Goldy Brar, who had come and stayed with him and he helped them to conduct recce of Sidhu Moosewala’s house. He has also visited the house and interacted with the security and checked the cameras etc.

Reliable input was shared with district Moga regarding Monu Dagar who was a close associate of Goldy Brar and Lawrence Bishnoi and was brought on a production warrant, who was interrogated and revealed the names of two other shooters Priyawarat and Ankit both r/o Sonipat who were provided by him on the directions of Goldy Brar. He also disclosed that Pawan Bishnoi and Naseeb both r/o Fatehabad had procured the White Bolero Jeep used in the incident from Sadul Shaher and further handed it over to the shooters through one Keshav r/o Bathinda and had also provided them with hideouts.

Based on technical inputs provided by AGTF Nikku r/o Takhat Mal, Sirsa, Haryana and Sandeep Singh @ Kekdaa r/o Kalianwali were identified as the persons who were suspected to be present around the house of SMW on 29-05-2022 around 03:00 PM at Moosewala Village. Sandeep Singh @ Kekdaa was arrested on 06-06-2022. During his interrogation, he revealed that Nikku Takhat Mal and his brother Bittu r/o Kalianwali had been conducting a recce of the movements of Sidhu and Nikku who was in touch with Goldy Brar and Sachin Thapan was passing on the information to Sachin Thapan and Goldy Brar. On 29-05-2022, his brother Bittu had tasked Kekdaa to accompany Nikku Takhat Mal on his motorcycle. They were present at their house of Sidhu and when he came out of the gate of his house Nikku and he both took a selfie with him on Nikku’s mobile phone, who further made a video call to Sachin and informed him that Sidhu had left his house without security and sitting on the driver seat in the Black Thar Jeep.

The Delhi Police had claimed and shared the names and pictures of the alleged shooters involved in Sidhu’s murder case. Among the names shared were Siddhesh Kamble alias Sourav Mahakaal and Santosh Jadhav r/o Maharashtra. Mahakaal was arrested by Maharashtra Police on 08-06-2022. A team of 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 this case. Later on, Maharashtra police also arrested Santosh Jadhav and Navnath Suryavanshi from Gujarat on 12-06-2022. A team of Punjab Police is currently interrogating the suspects for their involvement in the case.

The investigation so far has revealed that the arrested accused were acting on the directions of Lawrence Bishnoi and Canada-based gangster 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. Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar and others have been nominated as accused and conspirators in this case along with their gang members.

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 associates and indulging in extortion, murders, illicit gun running etc. He has associated with the gangsters of different states and is operating at the pan India level now. He is also accused of issuing death threats to Actor Salman Khan and also got a recce 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 Jails. While being lodged in jail he has got several murders and extortions committed in Punjab and Chandigarh for which he was nominated as an accused. Earlier too, warrants of his production were issued by the courts in Chandigarh and in Punjab, however, he had approached the High Court of Punjab & Haryana by taking a plea for his security in the custody of the Chandigarh Police and Punjab Police. In which he had procured a stay against his production warrants by the Supreme Court. However in the present case, with the guidance and sustained efforts of the office of the Advocate General, Punjab fresh warrants of arrest of Bishnoi were procured from the court of CJM Mansa in the Sidhu’s Murder Case. Lawrence Bishnoi has been shifted out of Punjab Jail on 02-01-2020 and has been lodged in Tihar jail since. He was taken on production warrants by Delhi police and had been in their custody for the past 14 days. On 14-06-2022, after the completion of his police remand he was produced by Special cell Delhi in the Patiala house courts. An application in consultation with the Advocate General Punjab was moved in the same court by the SIT investigating the Sidhu Moosewala case to seek the permission of the court to arrest Lawrence Bishnoi against whom the local Mansa court had issued arrest warrants. The plea of the Punjab Police was contested by the lawyers of the accused Lawrence Bishnoi on the grounds of his security in custody of Punjab Police, which was opposed by the Advocate General Punjab and after hearing the contentions of both the parties the court granted permission to arrest the accused and also gave a transit remand of the accused. He was produced in the court of CJM Mansa and taken on 7-day police remand for further interrogation and investigation of the case to unravel the conspiracy and the exact motive.

So far, the SIT has arrested 10 persons including Lawrence Bishnoi for their involvement in murder and has also identified 4 shooters involved in the incident.

The SIT is making a steady progress in the investigation and connecting the dots by working on the leads gathered so far through interrogation of the suspects already arrested and through other inputs. Besides this the AGTF is working in close coordination with Central Agencies and other State Police Forces to identify and arrest the suspected shooters and others involved at the earliest.

Accused arrested in Sidhu Moosewala Murder Case so far: