Moosewala killing: Mystery still surrounds origin of weapons, funds

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Bathinda, August 30

The police chargesheet filed in the Sidhu Moosewala case terms the killing an outcome of an ongoing gang war between the Lawrence Bishnoi and Davinder Bambiha groups.

Network in jails

The chargesheet has exposed a network of gangsters running from jails in different states. Lawrence Bishnoi, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and Deepak Tinu were lodged in Tihar Jail, Saraj Mintu in Bathinda Jail, Monu Dagar in Faridkot Jail, Manpreet Manna in Ferozepur Jail, Arshad Khan in Churu Jail and Manmohan Mohna in Mansa Jail.

Thirtyseven pages of the 1,850-page chargesheet accessed by The Tribune list the persons who had arranged the weapons for the shooters, but the primary source of the arms or the main persons who supplied them remain unknown. In the challan, the police said money was paid to different persons involved in the crime, but the exact amount was not known.

As per the police investigation, gangsters Goldy Brar, who is in Canada and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, who is lodged in a jail, along with other gangsters lodged in various jails hatched a conspiracy by giving huge funds and weapons to the shooters.

In the probe, names of Ranjit Singh, Mandeep Singh, Manpret Singh Mani, Satvir Singh, Sandeep Kahlon and Baldev Raj Chowdhary have come to the fore for supplying weapons to the hired shooters in this crime on the instructions of Brar and Bhagwanpuria.

“Moosewala’s murder is the fallout of direct rivalry between Bishoi-Bhagwanpuria groups and the Bambiha group,” says the chargesheet. On the source of weapons, Bishnoi told the police that only Sachin Thapan, Anmol Bishnoi and Brar know from where Priyavrat Fauji and others arranged arms, ammunition and grenades.

As per the police, the Bambiha group as part of the gang war killed Gurlal Brar in Chandigarh on October 11, 2020. Later, Bishnoi fired at Bambiha group member Rajat Kumar, alias Safi, at Talwandi Road in Faridkot in November 2020. In this case, Manpreet Singh Bhau and others were arrested.

To avenge Gurlal Brar’s murder, the Bishnoi group killed Youth Congress leader Gurlal Pehalwan in Faridkot in February 2021.

Further, with the assistance of Bhagwanpuria, Bishnoi’s shooters killed Rana Kandowalia on the Amritsar-Majitha road on August 4, 2021.

To avenge these killings, Bambiha group killed Vicky Middukhera in Mohali on August 7, 2021, and kabaddi player Sandeep Nangal Ambia in Jalandhar on March 14, 2022. To take revenge, Bishnoi gang killed Moosewala, said the chargesheet.