Pakistani man supplied weapons used in Moosewala murder case: NIA

New Delhi: A Dubai-based Pakistani arms supplier, identified as Hamid, had supplied the weapons used in the assassination of Punjabi singer and politician Sidhu Moosewala last year, according to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the direct role of a Pakistani national has come to light for the first time in Moosewala’s murder.

Hamid even met Shahbaz Ansari, a regular arms supplier to the Bulandshahr-based Lawrence Bishnoi gang in Dubai before the Moosewala murder and bragged about his close association with gangster Satinderjit Singh, alias Goldy Brar, a close associate of Bishnoi’s. , the federal leader in Canada. the agency said.

Moosewala was shot dead by six shooters with assault rifles and pistols in Jawaharke village in Punjab’s Mansa district on May 29 last year. The singer was a Congress leader and security cover for him, along with at least 400 others, was withdrawn by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Punjab government a day before the incident.

Goldy Brar had claimed responsibility for the murder.

“Investigations have established that Shahbaz Ansari (arrested by NIA on December 8, 2022 in Bulandshahr) visited Dubai many times and during these visits he came into contact with Faizi Khan, who is a Pakistani citizen and works as a hawala operator in Dubai. . Faizi Khan introduced Ansari to Hamid, who is also a Pakistani citizen and an arms smuggler. During one such meeting, Ansari and Hamid discussed the arms smuggling business and supplying consignments of arms and ammunition in India,” the NIA documents filed with the court say.

“During this meeting, Hamid also told Ansari that we are going to supply assault rifles and other weapons to gangster Lawrence Bishnoi for the murder of Shubhdeep Singh aka Sidhu Moosewala. Hamid said that they are in contact with Goldy Brar and has provided him with weapons many times, ”the documents, seen by HT, also reveal.

To back up his claim, according to the NIA, Hamid showed Ansari his phone that had an audio recording related to the supply of weapons to Brar.

The agency has further said that Ansari and his murdered father, Kurban Ansari, were the main source of weapons for the Bishnoi gang and that “the same weapons were known to have been used to kill Moosewala.”

Investigators are trying to gather more details about Hamid and Faizi Khan, as well as their weapons supply network with Ansari.

Certainly, NIA is not investigating Moosewala’s murder. The revelations are part of a broader investigation by the agency into a nexus of north Indian gangsters and pro-Khalistani (PKE) elements.

Detailing the planning of Moosewala’s assassination, the NIA documents further stated: “During the planning and execution of Sidhu Moosewala, the defendants were housed in six different jails: Lawrence Bishnoi and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria (in Tihar), Manpreet alias Manna (Ferozpur), Saraj Singh alias Mantoo in Special Jail (Bathinda), Manmohan Singh alias Mohana (in Mansa Jail) but all of them were in contact with Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar who after discussing with associates of the jail, he eventually tasked the shooters with killing Moosewala immediately after the murder. The singer’s safety was degraded.”

Bishnoi told NIA in his statement, seen by HT, that Brar had sent six shooters to kill Moosewala. “Goldy Brar managed the stay, the vehicles for the shooters and also helped them in the reconnaissance. he had sent about $50-60 lakh through hawala to Goldy Brar in Canada,” Bishnoi told the NIA.

The federal agency also found Khalistani’s link to the Moosewala murder. He has said that Canada-based banned Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) leader Lakhbir Singh Landa was sitting with Brar when a journalist, who runs a YouTube channel, interviewed him after Moosewala’s murder.