Gunmen fire outside Punjabi singer Gulab Sidhu’s house
Three unidentified masked men opened fire on the home of Punjabi singer and songwriter Gulab Sidhu in Pharwahi village, in the Barnala district of Punjab, during the early hours of Sunday.
The police stated that the attackers fired at least six shots, the impact of which hit the main gate of the house. Nobody was hurt. Sidhu was in Australia performing at the time, and his parents, wife, and children were inside the house.
People said that they heard gunshots after midnight. CCTV footage from the house, which then spread widely, depicts three men in masks arriving on a motorcycle. The rider appeared to be recording the incident on a mobile phone while the other two fired before the group fled.
Barnala’s SSP, Mohammad Sarfaraz Alam, confirmed the sequence of events and said a formal complaint (FIR) was being filed. SP (Investigation) Sanjeev Goyal and other officers visited the scene. The police formed several teams, began analysing CCTV footage and data from nearby mobile towers, and said they were taking steps to identify and trace the suspects.
The authorities noted that Sidhu had earlier come under threats and that, as a result of the perceived danger from gangsters, two security staff had been given to him. An audio clip supposedly belonging to the fugitive gangster Balwinder Singh, also known as Doni Bal and believed to be residing abroad, spread on social media. In the recording, the person in question took responsibility and stated that Sidhu had attended wedding ceremonies of individuals connected with those accused in the 2022 murder of singer Sidhu Moosewala.
The clip said Sidhu had not replied to phone calls and that the firing was meant as a warning. The police said they were reviewing the audio but had not verified its authenticity or found any connection to a gang. Sidhu was a close associate of Sidhu Moosewala, who was killed in May 2022.
On his Instagram profile, it says “Justice for Sidhu Moosewala”. He has released several popular songs, including Dera Sheran Da, Jatta Love You, Chill Maaro, Lahore, and 60 Pound. In October 2025, a song with lyrics referring to village sarpanches caused protests from the panchayat representatives in Barnala. Sidhu then apologised, met the people who had complained and had the disputed lines removed.
In January 2026, police arrested a sarpanch from a nearby village and two associates on the basis that they had planned an attack and an extortion attempt connected to the same controversy. This most recent incident is part of a pattern of threats aimed at Punjabi artists associated with Moosewala or involved in arguments over the lyrics and their public image.
The police said that they were looking into all possible aspects, including the possibility that extortion was involved, and that the family members who were there when the shooting took place had not been injured. As of Sunday evening, however, police had not identified the attackers, and the investigation was still ongoing.
