The Punjab Police Department made its first arrest in the brutal murder of singer-politician Sidhu Moosewala on Tuesday.
Manpreet Singh Bhau (27), the accused, is a resident of Dhapyi village in Faridkot district. Manpreet is suspected of supplying automobiles to the criminals engaged in the murder of Moosewala. Manpreet was not among the attackers who launched indiscriminate fire on Moosewala’s vehicle, killing him on the spot, according to the police.
Manpreet is the cousin of another criminal, Manpreet Singh Manna, who is imprisoned in Ferozepur and was taken to Mansa on Monday on production orders to be questioned in the Moosewala murder case. Manna is serving a life sentence for the murder of another thug, Kulbir Naruana.
According to police sources, Manpreet gave the assailants a white Toyota Corolla automobile that belonged to Manna. On Sunday evening, CCTV footage of Moosewala’s vehicle being followed by the white automobile in Jawaharke village surfaced on social media. This car’s occupants had opened fire on Moosewala’s vehicle first. Later, another group of gunmen arrived in a Mahindra Bolero car and began firing indiscriminately, murdering Moosewala on the spot.
Manpreet is facing nine charges in Faridkot, Ropar, and Muktsar, including charges under the Arms Act, as well as kidnapping and murder. He was one of six persons detained on their way back from Hemkund Sahib, a Sikh shrine in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, on Monday in Dehradun. They were later sent to Punjab for questioning in connection with the murder of Moosewala.
Manpreet was brought before a Mansa court, where he was sentenced to a five-day police remand. Manpreet is expected to provide more information about the attackers to the police.
The events came as the Aam Aadmi Party administration, under fire for the deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab, named Ishwar Singh, a 1993-batch IPS officer, as the assistant director general of police (law and order), just a week after removing Naresh Arora from the post.
According to an official order, “Ishwar Singh, additional director general of police, is officially posted as ADGP Law & Order, Punjab.”
Ishwar Singh was the state’s Vigilance Bureau’s chief director, a position that has now been passed over to Varinder Kumar, who is also a 1993-batch IPS officer and had been serving as ADGP (Jails).
Unidentified assassins shot and killed Moosewala on Sunday in Punjab’s Mansa district, a day after the state government revoked his security cover.
The crime was described by state police as an inter-gang feud, with the Lawrence Bishnoi group being blamed for the murder. Goldy Brar, a member of the Bishnoi gang located in Canada, has claimed responsibility for the murder.
According to authorities, Moosewala’s murder appeared to be vengeance for the assassination of youth Akali leader Vicky Middukhera last year.
Shaganpreet, the manager of Moosewala, was involved in the murder of Middukhera. Shaganpreet, on the other hand, had gone to Australia, according to police.
Sunny, Anil Lath, and Bholu, all Haryana residents, were arrested by the Delhi Police special cell in connection with the murder of Vicky Middukhera, while Shaganpreet was also named as an accused in the FIR.
