Moosewala was shot dead at Jawahar Ke village in Mansa district on May 29. (File)The Pune Rural Police said they have arrested a suspect believed to be one of the eight sharpshooters named by Punjab Police in the murder case of Sidhu Moosewala.
The suspect arrested in Pune was identified as Siddhesh Hiraman Kamble alias Saurav alias Mahakal who was picked up by the police Tuesday in connection with the murder of 24-year-old historysheeter Onkar Bankhele alias Ranya. Bankhele was shot dead in broad daylight on August 1 last year.
The Punjab Police had identified eight shooters allegedly linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang who were suspected to have been involved in the murder of Sidhu Moosewala. Among the eight alleged shooters, two — Santosh Jadhav and Saurav alias Mahakal — are from Pune District.
The other sharpshooter named in the Moosewala case, Santosh Jadhav, is still wanted as the prime suspect in the Bankhele murder case. The police said that they have intensified the search for Jadhav.
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Superintendent of Police (Pune Rural) Abhinav Deshmukh said, “Mahakal is believed to have helped Jadhav go into hiding after the (Bankhele) murder last year. He was arrested from Ahmednagar district.”
When asked when would Mahakal be handed over to the Punjab Police, Deshmukh said, “We will get in touch with officials from the investigation agency.”
The probe has revealed that Jadhav and Bankhele had past rivalry. Prior to the killing of Bankhele on August 1 last year, both had issued death threats to each other through social media status messages. Seven arrests have been made in Bankhele’s murder till now and two others, including prime suspect Jadhav, are still wanted. According to the police’s last information, Jadhav is hiding somewhere in Rajasthan.
Congress leader and singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu alias Sidhu Moosewala was gunned down in broad daylight near Mansa in Punjab on May 29, a day after the Punjab government had reduced his security cover along with that of many others in the state. Punjab Police had said that 28-year-old Moosewala was shot dead while he was driving his SUV in the Jawahar Ke village in Mansa district along with two others. He was rushed to the Mansa Civil Hospital where he was declared dead.
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