Two members of the Lawrence Bishnoi-Goldy Brar alliance gang, including a teenager who allegedly shot Punjabi singer and Congress leader Sidhu Moosewala in May, have been arrested by the special cell of Delhi Police, officials said on Monday.

With this, the city police have arrested five people, including three shooters, so far in connection with the murder.

Sachin Bhiwani (25) and Ankit Sirsa (19) were arrested from near the Kashmiri Gate interstate bus terminal in Delhi on Sunday night. Sirsa was among the six shooters who opened fire at Moosewala from a close range, HGS Dhaliwal, special commissioner of police, special cell, said.

Two members of the Lawrence Bishnoi-Goldy Brar alliance gang, including a teenager who allegedly shot Punjabi singer and Congress leader Sidhu Moosewala in May, have been arrested by the special cell of Delhi Police, officials said on Monday.

With this, the city police have arrested five people, including three shooters, so far in connection with the murder.

Sachin Bhiwani (25) and Ankit Sirsa (19) were arrested from near the Kashmiri Gate interstate bus terminal in Delhi on Sunday night. Sirsa was among the six shooters who opened fire at Moosewala from a close range, HGS Dhaliwal, special commissioner of police, special cell, said.

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Moosewala was shot dead at Jawaharke village in Mansa district of Punjab on May 29, a day after the state government pruned his security cover. His car was intercepted by two vehicles, a Mahindra Bolero and a Toyota Corolla, and was sprayed with about 30 bullets, police had said earlier.

An autopsy report later said that the singer bore 19 bullet injury marks and would have died within 15 minutes of the shooting.

Jailed gangster Bishnoi has been named the prime suspect in the case, believed to be a fallout of gang rivalry. Soon after Moosewala’s death, 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.

After initial arrests in the case, multiple teams were working to nab those involved in providing logistical support, weapons and hideout facilities to the accused, Dhaliwal said.

“Our teams conducted raids in six states, mainly Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat and Delhi. They continued to work on the leads received and developed them diligently,” he said.

“On Sunday, at around 11pm, our team apprehended Ankit, who shot at Moosewala from close range. His associate, Sachin Bhiwani, was also arrested,” he added.

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During the course of investigation, police learnt about an alleged alliance between the Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar, Kala Jatheri and Gogi gangs and their involvement in various crimes in different states, including Delhi, Dhaliwal said.

“This was the criminal nexus which killed Moosewala. We learnt that the accused used Kalashnikov assault rifles and were also in possession of several sophisticated weapons, including grenade launchers,” he said.

A resident of Sirsa Jatti village of Sonipat district in Haryana, Sirsa was the youngest shooter who attacked Moosewala, Dhaliwal said. He was introduced to crime by Monu Dagar, another gangster, at the age of 15 and committed several crimes like murder and kidnapping in Rajasthan before returning home a few months ago.

The accused stayed with Priyavrat, alias Fauji (26), in several hideouts provided by Canada-based gangster Brar in Punjab before and after Moosewala’s killing, the officer said.

Priyavrat, along with Kashish, alias Kuldeep, and Keshav Kumar, were arrested from Kutch in Gujarat on June 19 in connection with the case. Both Priyavrat and Kashish were among the shooters who attacked the singer, the officer said.

Sirsa was in the Bolero that intercepted Moosewala’s car on the day of the murder, Dhaliwal said. “Kashish was driving the vehicle and Priyavrat was seated next to him,” he said.

As Manpreet, a gangster from Punjab who was in the Corolla, opened fire at the singer using his AK-47, the four shooters in the Bolero followed suit. Sirsa, who was in the Bolero, told police he fired at Moosewala from close range, Dhaliwal said.

Following the incident, the accused in the Bolero fled to Fatehabad and stayed at Sawariya hotel provided by one Ram Niwas on Brar’s direction. The next day, they stayed at an unidentified location before leaving for Gandhinagar, Dhaliwal said.

“Sirsa and his partners took a bus to Mundra port where they stayed for a day… On June 20, Fauji and Kashish were arrested,” he said.

“Following the arrests, the remaining members of this alliance continuously changed hideouts and travelled between Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Delhi,” he added.

On the basis of information that two members of the Bishnoi gang will be arriving at the interstate bus terminal in Delhi, police arrested Sirsa and Bhiwani on Sunday night, the officer said.

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Bhiwani is a resident of Bohal village in Bhiwani district and was responsible for harbouring four of the shooters, said Pramod Kushwaha, deputy commissioner of police, special cell, New Delhi range.

“Wanted in a murder case in Rajasthan’s Churu area, Bhiwani helped Moosewala’s shooters to escape to Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. He is also wanted in a recent case of extortion in Churu, which he committed on the purported directions of the Lawrence Bishnoi-Sampat Nehra (another gangster) alliance. He is actively associated with the Bishnoi gang. He also spent three-and-a-half years in jail before being released in October 2021,” Kushwaha said.

A 9mm pistol along with 10 live cartridges, a 30mm pistol with nine live cartridges, three police uniforms of Punjab Police and two mobile handsets along with a dongle and SIM card were seized from Sirsa and Bhiwani, Dhaliwal said.