SIT gets Bhagwanpuria’s transit remand
FARIKDOT: A Delhi court on Wednesday granted a one-day transit remand of jailed gangster Jagdeep Singh, alias Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, to the Punjab Police for probe in Punjabi singer-politician Sidhu Moose Wala’s murder case.
The special investigation team (SIT) probing the case has claimed that Bhagwanpuria, who is an associate of “main conspirator” Lawrence Bishnoi, had provided two shooters for the high-profile killing while being lodged at Delhi’s Tihar Jail. He has been arrested and is being brought to Mansa, where Moose Wala was shot dead on May 29.
With this, the Punjab Police have made 14 arrests for the conspiracy so far, while two of the six identified shooters have been arrested by the Delhi Police special cell. The remaining four are still absconding.
“A team is bringing Bhagwanpuria to Mansa, where he will be produced before court on Thursday. We will seek his police remand for custodial interrogation as he is a key link in the case,” said Mansa senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gaurav Toora, who is also a member of the SIT.
Bhagwanpuria faces around 68 criminal cases, including of murder, contract killing, robbery and extortion besides crossborder smuggling of drugs and weapons, across Punjab and its neighbouring states. The chief judicial magistrate, Mansa, had issued an arrest warrant against him on Tuesday in the singer’s murder case. The SIT on Wednesday moved the Patiala House Court in Delhi, seeking his transit remand claiming that two out of the four shooters identified by them are associated with him.
Arranged two shooters from behind bars in Tihar
A Punjab Police officer privy to the probe said that Saraj Sandhu, alias Mintoo, who is an accused in Moose Wala’s murder case, had provided two shooters — Jagroop Singh Roopa and Manpreet Singh Mannu — on the directions of Bhagwanpuria. “The conspiracy to kill Moose Wala was hatched inside the Tihar Jail, where both Lawrence Bishnoi and Bhagwanpuria were lodged,” the officer cited above said.
According to SSP Gaurav Toora, Bhagwanpuria had also directed suspect Manmohan Singh Mohanna to facilitate a group of shooters who had earlier tried to target Moose Wala ahead of the assembly elections in February. Mohanna, who had also conducted the singer’s recce, reportedly confessed this after his arrest.
The SIT probe has found that Mintoo, who is a close associate of Bhagwanpuria and was lodged in the Bathinda jail for the targeted killing of a Hindu leader in Amritsar, was in touch with other gang members from behind the bars and carried out a number of criminal activities on his directions.
The SIT is also probing the involvement of Bishnoi’s close aide gangster Sampat Nehra, who too is lodged in the Tihar Jail. As Nehra oversees the gang’s operations in Haryana from behind the bars, the SIT suspects his involvement in arranging the second group of shooters, who belong to Haryana.
Bishnoi’s grilling points to Hawala network
Bhagwanpuria, who is said to be an ally of Bishnoi’s gang in Punjab’s Majha region, is also the main conspirator in the murder of gangster Rana Kandowalia, who was shot dead at a private hospital in August last year. The Amritsar police on Tuesday got Bishnoi’s eight-day remand in the same case to probe his role in that murder.
After moving Bishnoi back to the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) police station in Kharar, the Punjab Police are continuing his interrogation. According to sources, he has confessed about the extortion racket being run by his gang on his directions from jail. “Bishnoi said the money was collected by his men and delivered at various places on his directions. He even confessed that on a number of occasions, money was sent to Canada-based Goldy Brar through the Hawala network,” said a police official.