Hours after the Punjabi singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, known as Sidhu Moosewala, was shot dead in Punjab’s Mansa, a Canada-based gangster, Goldy Brar, claimed responsibility for the murder in a Facebook post on Sunday evening.
Brar, a close associate of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, claimed that he along with Bishnoi had plotted the killing after the singer’s name cropped up in the killing of an Akali leader and his cousin last year.
According to sources, Bishnoi, lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail in connection with more than a dozen cases of murder and extortion, planned the singer’s assassination with the help of his jailed associates from inside his high-security cell.
The beginnings
The 29-year-old Punjab-based gangster is facing trial in multiple cases, including murder and extortion, in the capital and in the neighbouring states of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.
According to sources, Bishnoi commands a loyal army of nearly 700 people, including many hardened sharpshooters.
Born on February 12, 1993, Bishnoi began his career as a student leader at Chandigarh’s DAV College, following which he joined the Student Organisation for Punjab University. Bishnoi’s father was a constable in the Haryana police. After leaving the force, his father moved to farming.
During his time in college, Bishnoi started putting together his gang, which comprised mostly sportspersons and children of police personnel. Soon, Bishnoi got embroiled in a number of theft and extortion cases in Ferozepur, his hometown.
Sources added that Bishnoi was mentored by another Punjab-based gangster named Amandeep Singh (Happy) Deora, under whose leadership Bishnoi entered the world of organised crime.
National notoriety
In June 2018, Bishnoi hit national headlines after one of his close associates, Sampat Nehra, was arrested from Bengaluru. Sampat told the police that Bishnoi had ordered him to kill Bollywood actor Salman Khan in retaliation for Khan’s alleged involvement in a case of hunting Blackbucks. The Bishnoi community, to which Lawrence belongs, considers the animal sacred.
Delhi police sources said Bishnoi has been running an extortion racket from his cell in Tihar jail for several years now. Lodged earlier in a jail in Rajasthan, Bishnoi was recently shifted to Delhi in a MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) case. His associates, several of who are lodged in various jails, include dreaded gangsters Kala Rana and Kala Jathedi.
Rana, who is involved in more than 30 cases of murder, was recently extradited from Thailand this year. Jathedi was held last year, along with Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, in connection with the murder of 23-year-old wrestler Sagar Dhankar inside Chhatrasal Stadium.
Published - May 30, 2022 11:15 pm IST
