Punjab's gangs in the spotlight as police blames inter-gang rivalry behind Moosewala's murder

Punjab, which often attracts people because of its culture, was not seen as a hardcore land of gangsters unlike Uttar Pradesh or other Indian states. 

Sidhu Moosewala’s sensational murder on Sunday is set to change the way Punjab is perceived otherwise.

Hours after the popular singer and rapper was gunned down in his home district Mansa on Sunday, one Goldy Brar of home-grown gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s (currently in jail) gang claimed responsibility for the crime, citing a retaliation of Moosewala’s involvement in the killing of ‘our brother’ Vicky Midhukhera, a youth Akali Dal leader, who was shot dead last year in August.

Moosewala was also blamed by Brar, currently operating Bishnoi Gang from Canada, for the murder of the former student leader of Chandigarh’s Panjab University-based political party SOPU in October 2020.  

Soon after, Punjab director general of police (DGP) VK Bhawra went on to claim in his media statement, “Prima facie it seemed to be an inter-gang rivalry between Lawrence Bishnoi and Lucky Patial (-Bambiha) gangs.”

He further stated that Shaganpreet, who was the manager of Sidhu Moosewala, was also named as an accused in the Middukhera case. Later he escaped to Australia and was still wanted by the police.

These claims made several to associate Moosewala with the world of crime, forcing the Punjab government to issue a statement on Monday that DGP never affiliated him with any gangster, after Moosewala’s father condemned police for projecting his son in the wrong light.

Further, Lucky Patial-Bambhia gang too denied any association with Moosewala and blamed another singer Manjeet Aulkah for his murder. 

The incident, nevertheless, exposed the dark underbelly of the state, which, many believed, existed on the fringes for a long. The past police encounters killing dreaded gangsters like Vickey Gounder and Jaipal Singh Bhullar is a case in point. 

But the public hardly perceived the presence of gangsters in Punjab a major law and order problem until the sensational murder of Moosewala brought them to the mainstream. 

One of the major reasons is that Moosewala was so far a major celebrity killing, whose popularity transcended state and national boundaries due to the huge presence of Punjabi diaspora in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK despite his controversial career as a rapper and singer. 

In the past, there were soft targets but not the level of Moosewala’s stature that could shock the public, making them realise that something is going terribly wrong in gang culture in Punjab.

Who are these gangs?

The state has had several gangs in the past but the Bishnoi gang has made it big in the world of crime. 

A resident of Punjab’s Ferozepur, Bishnoi drifted into illegal activities during his student days in Chandigarh a decade ago. There, he met Goldy Brar, the man who claimed responsibility for Moosewala’s murder, who for all practical purposes has been running his gang from Canada after Bishnoi’s arrest in various cases.  

Some of the early cases against Bishnoi were lodged in Chandigarh before he spread his network and as a result cases of extortion and murder were registered in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi NCR region as well. 

Other gangsters like Sandeep alias Kala Jathedi and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, who both are also inside the jail, are also associated with him. Another of his associates Sampat Nehra from Haryana was arrested for plotting to kill actor Salman Khan.  

On the contrary, Gaurav Patial, alias Lucky, is running the Davinder Bambiha gang from Armenia just like Goldy is running the Bishnoi group from Canada, making them out of the reach of the state or national security agencies.

Davinder Bambiha whose real name was Davinder Singh Sidhu born in Bambiha Village of Bathinda district was killed in a police encounter in 2016 and since then his gang is being operated with help of Lucky Patial and others. 

SIT formed but the situation remains messy 

Under pressure from the opposition after Moosewala’s death, Punjab’s Aam Aadmi Party government ordered a judicial probe under the sitting judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court. Earlier, Punjab police formed Special Investigating Team under Inspector General of Police (IGP) Bathinda Range Pardeep Yadav for a speedy investigation of Moosewala’s murder. 

Only last month, Punjab police under the direction of the AAP government formed an anti-gangster task force under ADGP Promod Banto to intensify action against gangsters in light of the murder of Kabaddi players in Jalandhar and Patiala. 

But according to former DGP, Punjab Shashi Kant, gang culture has become a massive problem for the state that is already under pressure due to Khalistani activities. If we look at the genesis of this problem, it starts with the use of muscle men by section of politicians who used them during elections or other illegal activities like land grabbing. Officials were also part of this. This nexus was giving them protection also, he added. 

Kant said the first major problem of gang culture came to the fore with the killing of the notorious gangster Prabhjinder Singh, alias Dimpy, who was shot dead at Sukhna Lake by motorcycle-borne youths in 2006 before more names started joining the organised crime. 

He added if one looks at the history of each of them, they started with petty crimes before getting into bigger crimes. 

The rise of gang culture, Shashi Kant believed, is also associated with the rise of the Punjabi music industry as well as pollywood, the Punjabi film industry. 

New Punjabi stars emerged with big pockets and they became targets for extortion as in protection money, a usual model followed in Delhi or Mumbai.

For instance, a famous Punjabi movie star and singer Gippy Grewal spilled the beans when he got a threat from gangsters. Even one famous singer was attacked. 

Kabaddi league, he believed, was another arena for gangs to show interest as it involved money in betting and high winning prices. Then they were involved in drug peddling and went beyond the state.

This led to even gangs fighting each other to establish their supremacy.   

Kant said that the recent murders including that of Moosewala are attributed to inter-gang rivalry. But it does not appear that simple. There is definitely more to it and hopefully, it is plugged into during the investigation. 

On how to tackle them, Kant said that the problem is that these gangs are now operating inter-state. “I would be happy if there was a common task force of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan to deal with these gangsters but it may not be possible because of different parties ruling these states,” he said. 

“I want NIA to take over since their activities are a national threat too,” he added.

Not law and order problem alone 

Journalist Ritesh Lakhi, who has been reporting on inter-gang rivalries in Punjab on his Youtube Channel- Ritesh Lakhi Unplugged and spoke to Goldy Brar after the incident said that Brar had claimed that Moosewala had links with Lucky Patial-Bambiha gang and he even wrote and sang a song for them. 

Bambiha Gang may have rejected the claim and even police are not clarifying how Moosewala was involved in their inter-gang rivalry, the point is that both gangs are killing people, they think, associated with the rival gang. The murder of Moosewala is the latest in that series.  

One can’t say for sure if their rivalry was an outcome of their ego tussle or if there is much more to it, the problem is tricky for police to handle since neither it was the first murder nor it is going to be the last, said Lakhi. 

He added killing them would not stop gang culture. Police killed dreaded gangsters like Vickey Gounder. But a new breed of youngsters drawn by easy money and a high lifestyle replaced them.

He said gang culture must be seen from a social aspect too. The youth guided by misplaced priorities fall into the trap and then are unable to come out of it.  Unemployment is a major reason. The flamboyant lifestyle, which often is promoted through songs and music too is responsible, for taking away the youth from reality. Lakhi said till the time government does not recognise it as a social problem and finds a remedy to stop innocent youth to choose a path of crime, this problem can’t be tackled.

He said all so-called big gangsters were ordinary people, to begin with. Later they are big names in organised crime.