The killing of famed Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala was executed by six sharpshooters and four of them have been arrested and two shot dead in a police encounter, Punjab Director General Gaurav Yadav said on Sunday, adding that fugitive Goldy Brar, who is hiding in Canada, will soon be brought to justice.
The DGP said 23 accused have been arrested in the case so far.Yadav, accompanying Anti-Gangster Task Force chief Pramod Ban and other officers, told the media here that Deepak Mundi, who was arrested in a joint operation with Delhi Police and central agencies on Saturday from close to the Nepal border in West Bengal following an intelligence-based operation, was the shooter in Bolero module.
Mundi was arrested along with Kapil Pandit and Rajinder Joker, who provided logistical support, including weapons and hideouts to the accused.
Mundi was the sixth and the last absconding sharpshooter involved in the killing.
"They were planning to flee to Dubai on fake passports via Nepal and the escape plan was made on the direction of Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar," said an elated Yadav, who believes Mundi's arrest is the crucial achievement in providing justice to Moosewala's parents.
Brar had tasked Kapil and Joker to help Mundi flee, who had managed to escape Delhi Police's special cell twice when other shooters were arrested, from India.
All three accused in the past 105 days used hideouts in Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.A Mansa court in Punjab on Sunday sent the three accused to a six-day police remand.
"Rajinder Joker was in touch with Goldy Brar (in Canada) and we will soon arrest him. Even a Red Corner notice has been issued to arrest him," the DGP said, who thanked Delhi Police and central agencies for carrying out the operation that led to their arrest.
He said the preliminary investigations indicated that the trio were planning to reach Dubai from Nepal either through air or road via Bhutan and Myanmar.
Disclosing the plot to attack actor Salman Khan, the DGP said gangster Kapil Pandit was tasked by jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi to target him. "Kapil did a recce of Salman Khan's house. He revealed this during his interrogation."
As per the 1,850-page police charge in a Mansa court on August 26, Moosewala's killing was carried out on May 29 in retaliation of youth Akali leader Middukhera's murder.
Besides jailed gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, the others who have been named in the charge sheet include Manmohan Mohana, Deepak Tinu, Sandeep Kekda, Ankit Sirsa, Priyavrat Fauji, Sachin Bhiwani, Keshav, Kashish, Manpreet Manu and Jagroop Roopa.
At present, both Bishnoi and Bhagwanpuria are in the custody of the state police.Now 35 people have been nominated in the Moosewala killing that comprised three arrests on Saturday.
Earlier, sharpshooters Priyavrat Fauji, Kashish and Ankit Sirsa were arrested by the special cell of Delhi Police, while Manpreet Manu and Jagrup Roopa, believed to be members of the Bhagwanpuria gang, were shot dead in an encounter near the India-Pakistan border in Amritsar district on July 20.
Accused Sachin Thapan, who was exchanging calls with Goldy Brar, has been detained in Azerbaijan. "We are trying to get him extradited," said Yadav.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by Anti-Gangster Task Force chief Pramod Ban is probing the killing.Ban has said Bishnoi, the main conspirator, confessed that the execution planning was hatched in August last year to avenge the murder of Middukhera.
Goldy Brar, who is a member of the Bishnoi gang, has been named in the charge sheet. He had already claimed the responsibility for the murder.