In a major blow against Jaggu Bhagwanpuria-Lawrence Bishnoi gang, the Punjab Police’s Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) on Friday arrested the its main shooters — Mandeep Singh alias Toofan alias Manu and Manpreet Singh alias Mani Rayya — wanted in the sensational murder case of gangster Rana Kandowalia, and other heinous crimes.
“They had also made various attempts previously on the life of late Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala,” said the state Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav.
“Both the gangsters — 24-year-old Mandeep Singh alias Toofan alias Manu of Batala and 30-year-old Manpreet Singh alias Mani Rayya of Amritsar — were wanted by the Punjab Police for the last few years in various criminal cases of murder, dacoity, extortion, carjacking, drugs and arms trafficking cases,” he said.
With their arrest, the Police have also recovered four sophisticated weapons including one .30 caliber Chinese pistol, one .45 caliber pistol Taurus USA, one .357 caliber magnum revolver, and one .32 caliber pistol along with 36 live cartridges from their possession, said the DGP.
The development came just five days after the AGTF had arrested the sixth and last shooter, identified as Deepak Mundi, in the Sidhu Moosewala murder case along with his two aides from Indo-Nepal border in West Bengal, while they were attempting to escape to Nepal to further reach Thailand via Bhutan. The same gang had also hatched a conspiracy to kill Bollywood actor Salman Khan.
DGP Yadav said that in an intelligence-led operation, a team of AGTF under the supervision of ADGP Promod Ban, led by AGTF AIG Sandeep Goel apprehended Mani Rayya from Harsha Chhina village in Raja Sansi area of Amritsar Rural; while accused Mandeep Toofan has been arrested from Khakh village in Verowaal of Tarn Taran district.
The AGTF team also included DSP Bikram Brar, SP Abhimanyu Rana, DSP Parminder Rajan, and DSP Gurinderpal Singh Nagra, while a Police team from Amritsar Commissionerate led by DCP Investigation Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar also joined the AGTF team.
“Initially, these two shooters were assigned the task to take Sidhu Moosewala’s life. In fact, they, along with gangsters Kapil Pandit and Sachin Thapan, had conducted reconnaissance at Moosewala village twice or thrice in February 2022, besides arranging police uniforms for impersonation, but had failed accomplished the task despite repeated attempts,” DGP said.
The probe has also revealed that Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar and Lawrence Bishnoi had sent two separate teams to take Sidhu Moosewala’s life for which they had started planning a long time back, he added.
The DGP said that, later on, Satvir Singh (already arrested) brought Toofan and Mani Rayya to Bathinda on his Fortuner car on May 20, 2022, and introduced them to Manu and Priyavart Fauji, which was the second team sent to take the life of Moosewala. They were in close contact with Goldy Brar while they stayed in Bathinda, he added.
He said with the arrest of these two gangsters, the Punjab Police has also got a major lead in the Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) terror attack at Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali, as both had accompanied gangsters Deepak Jhajjar and Devayanshu during the murder of rival gangster Rana Kandowalia in 2021. Notably, Deepak Jhajjar and Devayanshu are the key accused in the RPG attack case.
History-Sheet
Mandeep Singh alias Toofan has been facing seven criminal cases, of which, he is facing trial in four cases and absconding in three criminal cases, while, proclaimed offender (PO) in two cases. He was involved in the broad daylight murder of councillor Gurdeep Pehalwan in Amritsar and one of the prime suspects in the murder of gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria’s wife Harsimran Kaur. He was also involved in the sensational dacoity of 11 kg gold from Srafa Bazaar of Amritsar in 2019. Mandeep Toofan was the main shooter involved in the murder of rival gangster Fauji in 2020. He was also nominated as one of the main accused in the murder of Satu, a wine contractor of Fatehgarh Churian in 2021.
Manpreet Singh alias Mani Rayya has been facing 18 criminal cases, of which, he is facing trial in seven cases and wanted in four criminal cases, while, convicted in three criminal cases and acquitted in four criminal cases. Mani Rayya was involved in the infamous 2016-gang war in Tarn Taran between Harry, Bambiha, and Jaggu group.
He had escaped from police custody in Central Jail, Hoshiarpur; also aided another gangster Akul Khatri escape from police custody by injuring police personnel in SBS Nagar in 2016. He extorted a huge amount of money from a cloth merchant of Baba Bakala in 2022.