3 sharpshooters hired to murder Moosewala removed from final plan last minute

Three sharpshooters hired to murder Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala were removed from the final plan hours before the incident in Mansa district on May 29, police officers said, adding that the trio even took part in the final recce a day before the killing.

So far, six shooters involved in the killing of Moosewala have been identified, of which three were in the custody of the Delhi Police special cell, two killed in an encounter with the police in Amritsar recently while one was absconding, a senior police officer said.

During questioning of the accused, who were arrested by the New Delhi range of the special cell, they have confirmed that three more shooters were part of the plan besides the six shooters identified by the police, a senior officer of the special cell said.

“They identified the trio as Mandeep Singh alias Toofan of Batala in Punjab, Manpreet Singh alias Mani Raiya of Amritsar and one unidentified person,” said Pramod Kushwaha, deputy commissioner of police (special cell, New Delhi range). “They said the three shooters took part in recce done before Moosewala’s murder.”

Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar, the main conspirator in the singer’s murder, asked the three shooters to back out hours before the incident, the DCP said. “They were earlier asked to be in Punjab Police uniform at the time of commission of crime. Two days before the murder, they were asked to accompany Jagroop Roopa and Manpreet Mannu in a car the shooters were to travel in. But on May 28, they received the order from Brar to be in some other vehicle and give cover to Roopa and Mannu shooters. The facilitators had kept another vehicle ready for them, but in the last hours, the three shooters were asked to vacate the area,” Kushwaha said, adding that the three absconding shooters seem to have fled the country.

A senior Punjab Police officer posted in Ludhiana said the state police have arrested a man who allegedly supplied one set of weapons for Moosewala’s murder.

“Satbir Singh of Talwandi Rai Dadu village in Amritsar, along with these three accomplices (Toofan, Raiya and one unidentified person), had travelled to a petrol pump on Dabwali road of Bathinda, where some weapons were handed over to them,” the officer said, requesting anonymity. “The police have also recovered one white Toyota Fortuner vehicle (used for supplying weapons), a 315-bore pistol and two live cartridges from Satbir’s possession. Nearly a week before the singer’s murder, Satbir, Toofan and Raiya had gone to Bathinda, where they received weapons from one Baldev Chaudhary, a close associate of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.”

The Delhi Police special cell has so far arrested three shooters — Ankit Sirsa (19), Priyavrat alias Fauji (26) and Kashish alias Kuldeep (24) — in connection with Moosewala’s murder. Another accused Deepak is still at large while Roopa and Mannu were recently killed in an encounter with the Punjab Police in Amritsar.

“From the interrogation of criminals arrested so far, it came to our knowledge that a sinister criminal alliance comprising various gangs, led by Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar, Kala Jatheri and Gogi, was involved in violence in different states including Delhi,” said HGS Dhaliwal, special commissioner of police (special cell). “We have so far arrested 16 criminals — Bishnoi, Rajkumar alias Raju Basodi, Sampat Nehra, Ravinder Singh, Jagdeep alias Jaggu, Priyavrat alias Kala, Rahul alias Sanga, Naresh Sethi, Sachin alias Bhanja, and Sandeep alias Kala Jatheri — from different parts of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and other states in connection with the murder of Moosewala,” he added.

Moosewala was shot dead on a highway at Jawaharke village in Punjab’s Mansa district on May 29, when he was travelling in his personal vehicle with two of his associates. Jailed gangster Bishnoi has been named as the prime suspect in the case. Soon after the murder, Goldy Brar took responsibility for the killing, saying it was revenge for the murder of Vicky Middukhera, who was a close friend of the Bishnoi gang.