Moosewala killers targeted Salman Khan too: Punjab Police

Chandigarh: The Punjab police revealed on Sunday that Bollywood star Salman Khan was on the hit list of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi who plotted the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, IANS reported.

Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav told reporters that the preliminary interrogation of Mooselwala murder accused Kapil Pandit found that Lawrence Bishnoi gang approached him through Sampat Nehra and Canada-based fugitive Goldy Brar to murder Salman Khan.

He added that Santosh Jadhav, arrested in Maharashtra on the Moosewala case and Sachin Thapan, nabbed in Azerbaijan, were included in the module to target Salman.

Also, Salman received a threat days before Moosewala was shot dead in public.

The DGP said, "They had done an elaborate recce, and they spent a lot of time in Mumbai, and we will also verify this angle in the investigation," and added that "the disclosures on targeting Salman Khan were preliminary and yet to be corroborated. We can even send a team to Mumbai".

Moosewala was killed at the behest of Lawrence Bishnoi to avenge the killing of youth Akali leader Vicky Middukhera, Pandit had testified. Pandit had admitted multiple times that he had conducted recce many times, intending to kill Moosewala.

Pandit was granted parole to attend the last rites of his mother but went absconding since. The DGP assured that efforts are going on to arrest the gang members who have escaped from India. Thappan, who was detained in Azherbaijan-, would be extradited by India soon, he said. He added that a challan has been submitted by the police against 24 accused in the case.

On Saturday, Punjab Police arrested the sixth and last shooter Deepak Mundi, who was involved in the Moosewala murder. Two aides, Kapil Pandit and Rajinder Joker were also arrested along with Mundi from the Indo-Nepal border in West Bengal while they were attempting to escape to Nepal. Pandit and Joker provided logistical support, including weapons and hideouts to the accused.

The operation was carried out jointly by the Punjab Police's Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) along with Delhi Police and central agencies.

With the last three arrests, the total number of arrests in the Moosewala case reached 23, while two shooters, identified as Manpreet Singh alias Manu Kussa and Jagroop Singh alias Roopa were neutralized in an encounter in Amritsar.

Police had acquired six days of judicial custody of the three arrested last from a Mansa court on Sunday.