Aaj Ki Baat with Rajat Sharma.
Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu alias Sidhu Moose Wala was a popular Punjabi singer who was killed by 8 to 10 gangsters in a gruesome attack on 29 May. He was on his way to his aunt’s village in Mansa district when his Mahindra Thar SUV was intercepted and the assailants fired over 30 rounds with the help of Russian assault rifles from three sides.
Moose Wala fired two rounds from his pistol, but it was no match against the attack. The attackers fled in two vehicles and are yet to be apprehended. Moose Wala was on the list of 424 persons whose personal security was curtailed by the AAP government in Punjab. Although his personal security was reduced, he did not take his remaining two security guards with him in the jeep.
Canadian gangster Goldie Barr claimed responsibility for the murder on Facebook soon after the massacre. Goldie Brar said the murder was done in retaliation for the murder of young Akali leader Vikramjit Singh alias Vicky Middukheda last year.
After the murder of Vicky, the name of Moose Wala’s manager Shaganpreet Singh came to the fore. Shaganpreet fled to Australia last year. Goldie Brar is a close associate of another gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who is now being questioned, but according to the Delhi Police, he is “not cooperating”.
Bishnoi claims that he has nothing to do with the murder.
Punjab Police SIT (Special Investigation Team) chief SSP Gaurav Tora claimed that his team has got some important clues about the attackers.
“Now we know where they came from, how they did the recce and how they fled,” the SIT chief said. The SIT has already brought two gangsters from Ferozepur and Bhatinda jails for questioning.
The Moose Wala massacre has become a major headache for the incumbent Chief Minister of AAP, Bhagwant Singh Mann. Even four days after the murder, not a single attacker has been arrested.
Punjab Police officials say the murder was planned from inside the jail and inquiries are on as to who provided the vehicle to carry out the murder.
A few days ago, Delhi Police picked up a shooter named Shahrukh, who during interrogation revealed that Lawrence Bishnoi had given a ‘supari’ to kill Moose Wala.
Shah Rukh admitted that he had done Moose Wala Reiki for several days, but could not get close to the singer as he was accompanied by a large number of security personnel.
Soon after Moosewala’s murder, another criminal gang from Punjab led by Davinder Bambiha threatened singer Mankirat Aulakh in a social media post. It was said that Aulakh’s manager was actively involved in the murder of Moose Wala, and that retaliation would take place within two days.
Mankirat Aula has sought protection in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a video released by him, Aulakh said, “Moose wala was like my brother… it is wrong to associate my name with his murder.”
The fear of aulakh is understandable. A singer has been killed and a gangster sitting in Canada has claimed responsibility. Lawyers for Lawrence Bishnoi may claim that his client is in a high-security prison and could not have been involved in the murder. But the fact is that people of Lawrence Bishnoi have been regularly posting on Facebook that he is staying inside the jail.
Lawrence Bishnoi once claimed that he had spoken to Moose Wala over the phone from Jodhpur jail and demanded vengeance for the murder of Vicky Middukheda.
Punjab Police officials believe that at present more than 70 criminal gangs are active in the state. They extort celebrities, control kabaddi leagues indirectly, grab property and run crime syndicates for drugs and arms smuggling rackets.
These gangs take a lot of interest in the Punjabi music industry. Some big gangsters live abroad, like Goldie Brar in Canada, Lucky Patial in Armenia.
Other gangsters like Lawrence Bishnoi, Kala Jathedi and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria are behind bars, but they run their gangs effectively from inside the jails. Punjabi singers like Ashok Masti and BJP MP-cum-singer Hansraj Hans admit that gangsters are openly involved in the music industry.
The killings by these gangs are a clear indication of the ongoing battle for supremacy. The Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which used to be localized earlier, engaged in extortion and land grabbing, has now spread its wings.
From taking orders from foreign shores to targeted killings, controlling kabaddi tournaments and launching albums of Punjabi singers on YouTube are new avenues of earning money now. He joined hands with gangs led by Jitendra Gogi in Delhi and Sandeep alias Kala Jathedi in Haryana and in Rajasthan with the henchmen of the slain gangster Anandpal.
The Bishnoi gang is facing stiff competition from the criminal gang led by Davinder Bambiha and Gaurav alias Lucky Patial in Punjab. Bambiha was killed in an encounter, but his gang was revived with the help of Khalistani gangster Rinda Sandhu.
To counter this, Bishnoi tied up with Canada-based Goldie Brar. On the other hand, the Bambiha-Patial gang has tied up with Haryana gangster Kaushal, Jitendra Gogi’s rival Sunil alias Tillu Tajpuria and Neeraj Bawana to take on the Bishnoi gang. Gangster Jitendra Gogi was killed in broad daylight in Rohini court premises. In Punjab, he had killed international Kabaddi player Sandeep Singh Sidhu in Jalandhar two months ago.
The spread of the web of rival criminal gangs over a wide area of North India is indeed worrying. Moosewala was a Punjabi singer, and he contested the Punjab Assembly elections on a Congress ticket and lost. The singer-gangster nexus that is coming to the fore during the investigation was already known to the people of Punjab and Delhi. Even the political leaders were aware of this alliance but remained silent.
Earlier, gangsters in Punjab used to extort money from singers in the name of protection money, but later their greed for money became difficult to suppress. Gangsters now wanted the video rights to the singers’ albums, which had a double advantage. White money earned from video rights from YouTube was also used for money laundering. They showed that they were earning from singers’ albums.
The gangsters then forced the singers to put their gang names on the albums, in order to overthrow the other gangs. The singer fell into the web of fear, ‘dadagiri’ and greed. They became the scapegoats in the battle for supremacy between the gangs. Singers were murdered in broad daylight. Moose Wala was a popular Punjabi singer who became a scapegoat in this gang war. Other Punjabi singers are also fearing for their lives.
This is not a case of even a single murder. This is clearly a gang war. It is the responsibility of Punjab Police of Punjab Government to end this gang war and create fear in the minds of all the gangsters. They should take steps so that Punjabi singers stop fearing for their lives.