Chandigarh: Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar was the mastermind behind the murder of popular Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala and he had coordinated with gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and some others to execute the killing earlier this year, according to a charge sheet filed by the Punjab Police.

Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, popularly known as Sidhu Moosewala, was shot dead in Punjab’s Mansa district on May 29.

He was killed when he, along with his friend and cousin, was travelling in a jeep to Jawahar Ke village in Mansa. Six shooters waylaid and sprayed bullets on him.

After the killing, Goldy Brar, who is a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, had claimed the responsibility for the act.

The Punjab Police had filed a 1,850-page charge sheet, its first in the case, against 24 accused in a Mansa court on August 26.

The charge sheet was filed under different IPC sections, including 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 341 (wrongful restraint), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), and relevant provisions of the Arms Act.

The police had lodged an FIR against 36 accused but it filed the charge sheet against 24, including Lawrence Bishnoi, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, and Goldy Brar.

According to the charge sheet, accused Goldy Brar was the mastermind behind the murder of Moosewala.

He had given the news of withdrawal of security of Moosewala to shooters on May 28 and had asked them to hurry up and kill the singer on May 29, according to the charge sheet.

Moosewala was among the 424 people whose security was pruned by the Punjab Police on temporary basis.

According to the charge sheet, Brar had coordinated with accused Lawrence Bishnoi, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, Sachin Bhiwani, Anmol Bishnoi, Sachin Thapan, Monu Dagar, Pawan Bishnoi and the shooters and prepared the plan to kill Moosewala.

He arranged weapons, money, cars, phones, SIM cards and shelters for the other accused.

Brar used messaging app Signal to communicate with other accused, according to the charge sheet.

Brar had executed the plan to murder Moosewala to avenge the killing of Vicky Middukhera.

Youth Akali leader Vicky Middukhera was killed last year. The name of Shaganpreet Singh, who was said to be Moosewala’s manager, had figured in the murder of Middukhera.

Police had identified six shooters who were part of the two modules allegedly involved in the killing.

While Priyavrat Fauji, Kashish, Ankit Sersa and Deepak Mundi were in a Bolero vehicle, Manpreet Singh and Jagrup Singh Roopa were in a Toyota Corolla.

The Special Cell of the Delhi Police had earlier nabbed Priyavrat Fauji, Kashish and Ankit Sersa.

Roopa and Manpreet were neutralised by the Punjab Police while Deepak Mundi was still at large.

New Delhi: The Delhi Assembly on Thursday passed the confidence motion tabled by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal even as five BJP MLAs staged a walkout after their party colleagues were marshalled out of the House following an argument with the deputy speaker.

While all the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs present in the House voted in favour of the motion as expected, there was no vote against it due to the absence of BJP legislators.

Three BJP MLAs — Vijender Gupta, Abhay Verma and Mohan Singh Bisht — were marshalled out as they “argued” with Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla, who did not heed their demand to take up their calling attention notices before a discussion on the motion. The remaining legislators walked out in protest soon after.

In the Assembly, Kejriwal also referred to the upcoming Assembly elections in Gujarat, saying his party’s vote share in that state has increased by four per cent after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raids against his deputy Manish Sisodia.

He said this vote share will increase by two per cent “if Sisodia is arrested”.

“The CBI raided Sisodia, went to his village and searched his bank locker. CBI people said they did not find anything against him but they are under pressure to arrest him,” Kejriwal claimed.

Outside the Assembly, he told reporters that Sisodia is a “pauper” and it was obvious that the probe agency could not find anything substantial.

The prime minister has given a “certificate of honesty” to Sisodia and the AAP, he said.

Kejriwal also alleged that the BJP tried to buy his party MLAs but none of them accepted the offer.

Trying to project the AAP as an alternative to the BJP, he said there are currently only two parties at the national level — ‘Kattar Imandar (hardcore honest) party and Kattar Beimaan (hardcore corrupt) party’.

“Absolutely corrupt party lacks educated people while ‘hardcore honest’ party has those with good education, genuine IIT degrees,” he said.

“They are spending Rs 20-50 crore to buy MLAs. Am I doing anything wrong if I want to build schools and hospitals,” Kejriwal sought to know.

The chief minister said both his children studied in Indian Institutes of Technology, and he wanted to provide the “same education to every child in India”.

Kejriwal also said his government is worried about the increasing law and order issues in the capital.

“There should be no politics in law and order and safety of women in Delhi. We will extend all cooperation to the Lieutenant Governor and the Centre on it,” he said.

On LG Vinai Kumar Saxena warning legal action against the AAP for levelling allegations of corruption against him, Kejriwal said, “We should welcome any probe if we are in public life.”

Prof. B Shaikh Ali

Mysuru: Renowned historian and former Vice Chancellor of Mangalore and Goa Universities, Prof. B Shaikh Ali passed away on Thursday September 1, here in Mysuru. He was 98.

He was admitted to a private hospital in Mysuru after complaining of ill health where he breathed his last on Thursday.

He is survived by a son and a daughter.

The funeral rites of Prof. B Shaikh Ali will be held at Muslim Hostel Mosque inside the Complex, followed by Burial at Main Khabrasthan (Graveyard) behind Mysore Jail Tipu Circle, in Mysuru.

Sagar: Three security guards were murdered in different incidents here in the last 72 hours, creating a panic in the Madhya Pradesh city, and police suspect two of them might have been killed by the same person.

The pattern of killings led to the suspicion of involvement of a serial killer, but Sagar police officials on Thursday said it was a matter of investigation and too early to jump to any conclusion.

Police have also issued a sketch of the suspected killer.

Security guard Kalyan Lodhi, who was in his 50s and deployed in a factory, was killed on the intervening night of August 28-29 under Cantt police station limits. His head was smashed with a hammer, Additional Superintendent of Police Vikram Singh Kushwaha said.

Another security guard, Shambhu Narayan Dube (60), who was on duty at an arts and commerce college, was killed on the intervening night of August 29-30 under Civil Lines police station limits. His head was smashed with a stone, the official said.

In the third incident, watchman Mangal Ahirwar, who guarded a house, was killed in Moti Nagar area on the intervening night of August 30-31 after being attacked with a stick, he said.

Though it seems Lodhi and Dube were apparently killed by the same person, the number of culprits may be more, Kushwaha said.

Police have issued a sketch of the suspected killer, the official said, adding that they are hopeful of nabbing him soon.

Superintendent of Police Tarun Nayak said the killings in Cantt and Civil Lines police station areas were similar in nature and appeared to have been executed by the same person.

Based on the CCTV footage and scientific evidence collected, the police were working to nab the killer soon, he said.

Nayak said it was too early to say the culprit was a psycho or serial killer”.

Police have got some definite leads about the culprit and special teams have been constituted to nab him, the official said.

In 2018, police had arrested ‘serial killer’ Aadesh Khamra from Mandideep in MP’s Raisen district for allegedly killing 34 truck drivers and cleaners in a decade.

He is currently lodged in a jail in state capital Bhopal and the case trial is underway, Assistant Commissioner of Police (crime) Bittu Sharma said.

New Delhi: The price of commercial LPG used in hotels and restaurants on Thursday was slashed by Rs 91.5 per cylinder on softening international prices, but oil companies have made no changes in rates of domestic cooking gas and rather began imposing limits on refills a user can order in a fortnight.

The price of a 19-kg commercial LPG cylinder was cut to Rs 1,885 per cylinder in the national capital from Rs 1,976.50, according to a price notification from state-owned fuel retailers.

This is in line with softening international prices. However, rates of LPG used in household kitchens for cooking purposes remained unchanged at Rs 1,053 per 14.2-kg cylinder.

This because the rates of domestic cooking gas were way lower than cost and now with a drop in international prices they are at breakeven, industry sources said.

Commercial LPG rates on the other hand have largely been aligned with cost and so they have moved in tandem with rise and fall in international rates.

And this difference between a market-priced commercial LPG and below-cost household cooking gas had led to diversion of cylinders meant for kitchens into commercial establishments.

To check this, the state-owned oil firms have now started imposing limits on a 14.2-kg refill a household can order, they said.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has limited one refill in 15 days from August 26, and other retailers Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) are likely to follow suit.

Simultaneously, the rates of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) were cut marginally by 0.7 per cent.

Jet fuel price was cut by Rs 874.13 per kilolitre, or 0.7 per cent, to Rs 121,041.44 per kl in the national capital.

Rates differ from state to state depending on incidence of local taxes.

Mumbai: The National Investigation Agency has announced a cash reward of Rs 25 lakh for any information leading to the arrest of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, a key accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, an official said on Thursday.

The probe agency has also announced a cash reward of Rs 20 lakh on Ibrahim’s close aide Shakeel Shaikh alias Chhota Shakeel, and Rs 15 lakh each on associates Haji Anees alias Anees Ibrahim Shaikh, Javed Patel alias Javed Chikna and Ibrahim Mushtaq Abdul Razzak Memon alias Tiger Memon, he said.

All of them are wanted accused in the case of 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts. The official said the NIA has sought information about them which could lead to their arrest.

The agency had in February registered a case against the ‘D company’.

Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar is designated a global terrorist by the United Nation runs an international terrorist network, namely D-Company, with his close associates like Anees Ibrahim Shaikh, Chhota Shakeel, Javed Chikhna and Tiger Memon, among others, the NIA said in a statement.

They are involved in various terrorism-criminal activities such as arms smuggling, narco terrorism, underworld criminal syndicate, money laundering, circulation of FICN, unauthorised possession/ acquisition of key assets for raising terror funds and working in active collaboration with international terrorist organisations including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Al Qaeda (AQ), the statement said.

Parmesh S Jain

DRI officials of Bengaluru unit busted a major drug haul and arested a 45 year old man from Telangana and recovered 14 kgs of heroin concealed under false case of a bag he was carrying .

The value of the seized drugs estimated to be Rs.100 crore.

DRI officials said,as from July we are keeping surveillance on passengers coming from Adisababa and based on tip off we checked a passengers luggage and his Carrier we found huge quantity of drugs in his possession immediately he was detained.

The accused was pinned down as soon as he was landed at the Kempegowda International airport from Adisababa.

The accused had gone to Adisababa to search job and suspected to be roped in by international drug cartel offering him the job of carrier .

The accused was offered money along with tickets and stay in star hotel with an assignment to hand over the parcel to a contact in Delhi.

The accused soon after landing in KIA supposed to take a flight to Delhi,where he was supposed to meet his contact and hand over the consignment soon after getting out of Airport.

This is the 8th case the DRI busted since july 15 this year.

Senior officers in the DRI said that special operations against Narcotics has been launched since July as the drugs smuggling linked to Adisababa are on the rise.

The total values of the seized drugs from all the 8 cases estimated to be Rs.250 crores.

The officials suspected that same international drug racket is operating and they are enrolling new faces as mules to smuggle drugs..