2 gangster Lawrence Bishnoi aides, who harboured singer Sidhu Moose Wala’s shooters, held
Accused Chotta Mani was arrested along with his accomplice identified as Jatinder Singh of Gobindpura Mohalla in Manimajra, police officials said
Punjab police anti-gangster task force (AGTF) arrested Lawrence Bishnoi’s close aide Mandeep Singh alias Chotta Mani of Chandigarh along with one more person, who had provided hideouts to accused persons involved in singer Sidhu Moose Wala’s murder and facilitated the escape of gangster Deepak Tinu in 2017, director general of police Gaurav Yadav said here on Saturday.
Accused Chotta Mani was arrested along with his accomplice identified as Jatinder Singh of Gobindpura Mohalla in Manimajra, police officials said.
Police also recovered two .32 calibre pistols along with 12 live cartridges from their possession.
DGP said that following reliable inputs about the presence of Chotta Mani in the area of Zirakpur, teams of AGTF headed by ADGP Promod Ban under the supervision of AIG Sandeep Goel and led by DSP Bikram Brar, managed to track the location and arrested him along with his accomplice.
Yadav said that both the accused were actively working for Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar’s gang, and have a criminal history with several criminal cases pertaining to attempt to murder, extortion, robbery and under the Arms Act were registered against them in Chandigarh and Haryana.
Preliminary investigation has also revealed that the arrested accused were tasked to carry out target killings of rival gangsters by their foreign-based handlers, he added.
Sharing more detail, AIG Sandeep Goel said that in 2022, accused Chotta Mani along with his other associates Sachin Thapan, Deepak Mundi and Joginder Joga— all shooters and accused involved in Moose Wala murder, were directed by foreign handlers to commit sensational crime on directions of Ayodhya-based politician Vikas Singh, who was later arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA) in November 2023.
He said that Bishnoi wanted to settle Chotta Mani abroad and also sent him to Dubai thrice to facilitate his safe entry to Europe, but failed to do so. Due to this Chotta Mani had to return back, he added. A case under section 25 of the Arms Act has been registered at Police Station State Crime, Mohali.
