The Punjab Police on Tuesday said that they have arrested eight persons in connection with the murder of singer Sidhu Moose Wala, PTI reported. They have been held for offering logistical support, conducting recce and harbouring the singer’s killers.
Moose Wala, who fought the Punjab Assembly polls on a Congress ticket, was shot dead in Mansa district on May 29. Two others were injured after the assailants opened fire at a jeep Moose Wala was travelling in.
On Tuesday, the police also said that they have identified four shooters who were involved in the crime, PTI reported.
“Those arrested have been identified as Sandeep Singh alias Kekda of Sirsa, Haryana, Manpreet Singh alias Manna of Talwandi Sabo, Bathinda, Manpreet Bhau of Dhaipai, Faridkot, Saraj Mintu of village Dode Kalsia, Amritsar, Prabhdeep Sidhu alias Pabbi of Takhat-Mall, Haryana, Monu Dagar of village Rewli in Sonipat, Haryana, Pawan Bishnoi and Naseeb, both residents of Fatehabad, Haryana,” a statement from the police said.
Additional Director General of Police Pramod Ban said that Sandeep Singh had tracked the singer’s movements by impersonating himself as his fan on the directions of Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar and Sachin Thapan, who claims to be jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s nephew.
“Kekda has shared all inputs like the singer was not accompanied by his security personnel, number of occupants, vehicle details and he is travelling in non-bullet-proof vehicle Mahindra Thar, with the shooters and handlers operating from abroad,” Ban told PTI.
He had also clicked selfies with Moose Wala minutes before his murder, Ban added.
The police alleged that Manpreet Singh had provided a Toyota Carolla car to Manpreet Bhau, who gave the vehicle to two suspected shooters on the directions of Saraj Mintu, a close aide of Brar and Thapan.
Bhau is a cousin of gangster Manpreet Singh Manna, a gangster who is already in custody in a separate case. Bhau was the first person to be arrested in the case on May 31.
Sidhu, according to the police, had provided shelter to two associates of Brar, who had conducted a recce of Moose Wala’s home and surrounding areas in January.
Dagar has been arrested for allegedly helping assemble the team of shooters to carry out the murder, Ban told PTI.
Pawan Bishnoi and Naseem have been accused of handing over a Bolero vehicle to the shooters and offering them a hideout.
“Names of other persons belonging to Punjab and other states have also emerged, who had played a role in planning, providing logistic support, arms, ammunition and hideouts to the criminals, who carried out this dastardly act,” Ban told PTI.
The Special Investigation Team and the Punjab Police are carrying out operations in different states simultaneously to arrest the accused persons, he added.
On May 30, Moose Wala’s father, Balkar Singh Sidhu, had demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the National Investigation Agency into the murder.
Later in the day, the Punjab government had announced that it would set up an inquiry commission under a sitting High Court judge to look into the killing of the singer.
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