The Punjab police has found a link between an attempt to target Bollywood actor Salman Khan and Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala murder case. The state Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav on Sunday asserted that the three accused in Sidhu Moosewala case, including Kapil Pandit who was arrested a day before, had conducted Salman’s recce.
Canada-based gangster and mastermind of Sidhu Moosewala killing Goldy Brar had approached Pandit through gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Sampat Nehra to “plan the strategy to kill” the actor to avenge the ‘Black Buck incident’. Following this, Pandit had carried out actor’s recce along with Santosh Jadhav — who was arrested in Maharashtra in Sidhu Moosewala case; and Sachin Bishnoi — Lawrence Bishnoi’s nephew who has been detained in Azerbaijan.
“In the preliminary investigation of Kapil Pandit, he has revealed that they had done an elaborate recce of Salman Khan and spent a lot of time in Mumbai...We will verify this angle in the investigation also,” said DGP Yadav.
At the same time, the state police chief made it clear that the disclosures, regarding targeting Salman Khan, were “preliminary and yet to be corroborated”.
Yadav said that complete investigations will also be carried from this point of view and if required, “we will send a team to Mumbai”. Kapil revealed that, earlier also, he had carried out recce for several times with intention to kill Sidhu Moosewala on the behest of Lawrence Bishnoi gang to avenge the killing of Vicky Middukhera, he added.
Notably, a threat letter was sent to Salman Khan and his father Salim Khan in June, days after Sidhu Moosewala’s killing in Punjab’s Mansa district.
The disclosures were made a day after Kapil Pandit was arrested and brought to Punjab along with Deepak Mundi — the sixth shooter in Sidhu Moosewala murder case, and Rajinder alias Joker. The three were arrested by the Punjab police’s Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF), in a joint operation with central agencies and Delhi police, from near Indo-Nepal checkpoint in the area of Kharibari Police Station in Darjeeling district of West Bengal.
DGP Yadav said that they had plans to reach Dubai via Nepal and Thailand, on “fake passports”.
The state police chief said that with fresh arrests, total 23 accused have been nabbed, out of total 35 nominated, in the Sidhu Moosewala case. While two of the shooters — Manpreet Singh and Jagroop Singh Roopa — were neutralised in an encounter, three — Priyavrat Fauji, Kashish, and Ankit Sersa — were arrested by the Delhi Police. Among the total accused, four are out of country and efforts are on to bring them back; and six are absconding or their role is under scanner.
DGP Yadav said: “Efforts are being made to arrest the gangsters who had escaped overseas. As a result, gangster Sachin Thapan has been detained in Azerbaijan, and soon he will be extradited to India.”
Stating that it took total 105 days to join the dots in Sidhu Moosewala case, Yadav said: “Mundi and Kapil were together and kept shifting their base, passing through Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Bihar before they reached West Bengal...Joker, who was already stationed in Nepal, had come to West Bengal to facilitate the entry of Mundi and Kapil to take them to safe house in Nepal. He was in touch with Goldy Brar, who has prepared an escape plan for them.”
“They were promised that they would be made to settle in Dubai through Nepal on fake passports, either through land route passing through Bhutan, Myanmar, and Thailand or Bangkok, or if fake passports were delivered to them, through a flight to Dubai from Kathmandu,” said the DGP.