Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi has admitted that he was planning to kill Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala since last August, Punjab Police ADGP Pramod Ban said on Thursday.
Mr. Ban, who is also the head of the Anti-Gangster Task Force, said another accused, Baldev alias Nikku, a resident of Haryana’s Sirsa district, was arrested on Thursday.
Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, also known as Sidhu Moosewala, was shot dead in Mansa district on May 29, a day after the Punjab government pruned the security cover of the singer and 423 people temporarily.
“We had recently arrested Lawrence Bishnoi in the case and his remand was extended till June 27. He has admitted that he was the mastermind (in Moosewala’s killing),” Mr. Ban told reporters here.
“The plan to carry out the killing was being hatched since August last year. According to our information, recce was done thrice. In January too, a different group of shooters had come to kill Moosewala but could not do so,” the ADGP said.
“We have arrested 13 people so far and the entire conspiracy has been unravelled,” Mr. Ban said, adding that Lawrence has also admitted to using a mobile phone in Tihar Jail.
Asked if the weapons recovered from the arrested shooters in the case by the Delhi Police were used in Moosewala’s killing, he said they are waiting for the forensic analysis.
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“We will have to get those weapons forensic checked to see whether those were used in this case, that is part of the investigation.” Mr. Ban said that fake passports made outside Punjab were used by Lawrence’s brother Anmol and his associate Sachin Thapan to travel abroad earlier this year.
Bishnoi made them settle abroad from where they could coordinate, facilitate and successfully execute the crime without being noticed or held culpable, the police officer said.
A separate FIR has been lodged in Mohali in connection with the case of the fake passport, he said.
Bishnoi has confessed to hatching the conspiracy with Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar, Sachin Thapan and Anmol, he said.
