NIA raids homes of slain singer Moose Wala’s ‘sharpshooters’, questions families

Ankit Sersa and Priyavrat are among the six 'shooters' accused of killing the singer and Congress leader on 29 May, 2022.

File photo of Sidhu Moosewala | Twitter | @iSidhuMooseWala

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Thursday conducted searches in 32 locations across Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Chandigarh,  and Delhi, and also in the houses of two main accused in the Sidhu Moose Wala murder case — Ankit Sersa and Priyavrat alias Fauji, ThePrint has learnt.

Sersa and Priyavrat are alleged to be among the six ‘shooters’ accused in the killing of singer and Congress leader Moose Wala on 29 May, 2022. Both are allegedly members of gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar’s groups.

According to sources in the NIA, the family members of both the arrested accused were also questioned.

The agency said in a statement later that it found “several illegal arms and ammunition, along with incriminating documents, digital devices and cash, in a massive multi-state crackdown in three cases relating to conspiracies and activities of the banned Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and the Lawrence Bishnoi Crime Syndicate, among others”.

Of the places raided, seven locations were connected to the NIA’s case against a “crime syndicate” being allegedly run on the directions of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his associates — including Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Home Affairs declared Brar an “individual terrorist”.

“The syndicate has spread its mafia-style criminal networks across several states of the country, as well as abroad, in active conspiracy with Harwinder Singh alias Rinda, a ‘designated Individual terrorist’. These networks have been involved in many sensational crimes, like the killings of popular Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala as well as religious and social leaders like Pardeep Kumar, besides large-scale extortions from businessmen and professionals,” the agency said in its statement.

ThePrint had earlier reported that Sersa, 19, is the youngest of the six accused ‘shooters’ and “fired with both his hands and from the closest range at Sidhu Moose Wala” that day. According to the police, the teenager joined the Bishnoi-Brar gang four months before Moose Wala’s killing and this was the first murder case he has been accused in.

Fauji, on the other hand, had allegedly been a part of the gang for the last five years and “was in touch with” Canada-based Goldy Brar.

In addition to Sersa and Fauji, Kashish (alias Kuldeep), and Deepak Munder — both alleged sharpshooters — have been arrested in the Moose Wala case, while two other accused, Manpreet Mannu and  Jagdeep Roopa, have been killed in an encounter with the Punjab Police.

Moose Wala’s shooters, according to the police, had come in two different cars. Soon after the killing, Goldy Brar purportedly claimed responsibility for the murder, saying it was to avenge the killings of his cousin — Gurlal Brar and an Akali leader Vikramjit Singh ‘Vicky’ Middukhera. They suspected Moose Wala of aiding the rival Bambiha gang.

While Laurence Bishnoi is in jail, fugitive Goldy Brar (or Satwinder Singh alias Satinderjit Singh) was earlier this month declared an individual terrorist by the government.

The NIA had last July arrested Vikramjeet Singh, aka Vikram Brar — another key suspect in the Moose Wala murder. He was deported from the UAE and is accused of smuggling weapons and of extortion.

This is an updated version of the report

(Edited by Tikli Basu)