Sidhu Moosewala: a walking contradiction

New Delhi: Sidhu Moose Wala and two of his friends were travelling to the village of Jawahar Ke in Punjab in a SUV yesterday.

Assailants pounced up on them spraying bullets pell-mell, leaving Moosa Wala slumped in the seat gushing with blood.

He was quickly taken to a hospital before being declared brought dead.

In less than 24 hours after security to him was revoked by the government, Moosewala, 28, with a huge fan base running into millions, was shot dead near his village in Mansa district.

Thus there ended the sensational life of Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu aka Sidhu Moose Wala, his stage name.

Moosa Wala , born in 1993, emerged as a rapper tapping into Punjabi music, bringing a sort of new genre to masses

Not long afterwards, he blossomed into an actor, subsequently wading into politics. In between, millions enamoured of his music which began with his writing the song ' License" before his vocal career took off with the song," G Wagon".

His notable early hit track 'So High" earned him wide attention, and the 2018 debut album " PBX 1" stood out at 66 th on Billboard Canadian Albums.

Now on he was on a roll bringing out albums independently, becoming one of the influential singers with The Guardian naming him as among 50 coming artists.

Meanwhile, dabbled in politics, joining the Congress to contest 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election.

Alongside his sing careering, another side of his life was unfolding with rivalry and gangs targeting him as well the singer himself facing criminal cases.

Hours after he was killed on Sunday, a Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar has taken the responsibility for the murder.

Another name is heard surrounding the singer's murder is Lawrence Bishnoi. Brar took to his social media account to claim the responsibility.

"Today, Moosewala was killed in Punjab, I, Sachin Bishnoi, Lawrence Bishnoi take the responsibility. It's our work. Moosewala's name surfaced in our brother Vikramjit Singh Middukhera and Gurlal Brar's murder, but the Punjab Police did not take any action against him. We also came to know that Moosewala was also involved in the encounter of our associate Ankit Bhadu. Moosewala was working against us. Delhi Police had taken his name but Moosewala used his political power and saved his skin each time," Goldy wrote on his social media post.

There is a backdrop to the singer's death. On August 7, 2021, one Vikramjit Singh Middukhera, 33, a Youth Akali Dal leader popularly known as Vicky Middukhera was shot dead.

It was alleged that Moosewala had directed his manager Shagunpreet Singh to execute the killing. Singh allegedly hired the members of Kaushal gang to execute the killing of Middukhera.

Singh in April this year fled to abroad after his name cropped up during the investigation.

Anil Kumar a.k.a. Latth, Sajjan Singh a.k.a. Bholu and Ajay Kumar a.k.a. Sunny, members of Kaushal-Bambhia-Lucky Padial gang were held by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police. They were later handed over to the Punjab Police.

They had told the police that Bhuppi Rana and Amit Dagar were involved in giving direction for the murder of Middukhera.

Moosewala had been on the radar of Brar and Bishnoi gang since then.

With inputs from IANS