The Punjab police on Tuesday arrested gangster Lawrence Bishnoi from Delhi in connection with the murder of Punjabi singer and Congress leader Shubhdeep Singh aka Sidhu Moosewala.
A Delhi court also granted them transit remand to produce the alleged gangster before the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Mansa in Punjab on Wednesday.
Duty Metropolitan Magistrate Umesh Kumar at the Patiala House Court complex here allowed the Punjab police to formally arrest Bishnoi after Punjab advocate general Anmol Rattan Sidhu filed an application for the same.
Security deployed
While allowing the police to take Bishnoi to Punjab, the court took on record the submissions of the advocate general that 54 officers had been deployed for security during the transit, including 38 armed police personnel, and that 10 vehicles, including two bulletproof cars, would be part of the convoy.
Opposing the plea to take Bishnoi to Punjab, his counsel Vishal Chopra submitted that there was a legitimate chance of him being killed in transit. He further added that Bishnoi had a strong apprehension that he might be “murdered in a fake encounter by the Punjab police”, asking that he be produced before the Mansa court virtually from Delhi.
The court also directed the Punjab police to ensure that Bishnoi’s medical examination is conducted before departing from the Capital and once again before producing him before the Mansa court as per procedure.
Mr. Chopra told The Hindu, “The court has allowed him to be taken to Punjab on the specific undertaking of authorities there that they will ensure full security for Bishnoi.”
In their remand application, the Punjab police submitted that they had secured an arrest warrant from Mansa for Bishnoi in the murder of Moosewala on June 13. They added that they had identified 20 accused in the killing so far, including Bishnoi, his brother Anmol Bishnoi, gangster Satwinder Singh aka Goldy Brar and others, of whom nine had been arrested.
The Punjab police further submitted that the purported confession statements of the arrested accused “clearly pointed that Bishnoi had tasked the co-accused to carry out the planned killing of Sidhu Moosewala”. They further said that Delhi Police had corroborated Bishnoi’s role in the killing after interrogating him as well.
The Punjab police went on to claim that the motive for Moosewala’s killing was to avenge the murder of one Vikramjit Singh aka Vicky Middukhera, in which there was an alleged involvement of Shagundeep Singh, Moosewala’s manager.
‘Ensure safety’
Before parting with the order, Mr. Kumar said, “Needless to say, the applicant IO/SP Dharamveer Singh and the investigating agency are directed to take all the appropriate measures for safety and security of the accused Lawrence Bishnoi during transit till production of the accused Lawrence Bishnoi before the court concerned in Mansa, Punjab.”
Lawrence Bishnoi was initially produced before the court by the Delhi police on Tuesday after they had exhausted his custody in a separate Arms Act case when the Punjab police filed the plea to arrest him in the Moosewala murder case. The Punjab police arrested Lawrence Bishnoi outside the courtroom in Delhi, following which they secured a transit remand to take him to Mansa, Punjab.
