The encounter site at Bhakna village, 20 km from Amritsar.
A gangster named Jagroop Singh Roopa, a suspect in singer Sidhu Moose Wala's murder, has been killed in an ongoing shootout with the police near Amritsar today, it is learnt. Three policemen have been injured as another suspect, Manpreet Singh alias Mannu Kussa, continues to be engaged in firing. A news channel's cameraperson was injured too; he got a bullet in his right leg.
The encounter at Bhakna village, 20 km from Amritsar, started earlier in the afternoon as Punjab Police's Anti-Gangster Task Force had been tailing the two men. They were among three shooters who were still on the run. Of them, Deepak Mundi has not been traced yet. The rest -- there were at least eight shooters -- have been arrested.
Jagroop Singh Roopa and Manpreet Singh, alias Mannu Kussa, belong to villages in Tarn Taran,in the same border belt where encounter is on.
Ambulances had reached the spot just minutes before police said Jagroop Roopa is dead. The area, only about 10 km from the border with Pakistan, had been cordoned off and people told to stay indoors.
Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, alias Sidhu Moose Wala, 28, who was a Congress leader besides being a singer-songwriter and rapper, was shot dead near his village Moosa in Punjab's Mansa district on May 29.
Mannu Kussa is alleged to have fired the first shots at Moose Wala from an AK-47 rifle.
Police from Punjab, Delhi and Mumbai are on the case. The murder was directed allegedly by Canada-based Satinderjit Singh, alias Goldy Brar, in coordination with gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who was already in Delhi's Tihar Jail.
Goldy Brar is alleged to have claimed responsibility for the murder through Facebook posts. The posts said it was revenge for the murder of an Akali leader Vicky Middukhera last year. Interpol has since issued a Red Corner Notice to trace Goldy Brar in connection with two other cases registered at Faridkot in Punjab.
Punjab's Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government has been facing questions, too, as the murder took place just a day after Sidhu Moose Wala's security was cut down to two cops as part of a larger drive against "VIP culture". However, the singer hadn't taken the two cops along, nor was he using his bulletproof car, when he was attacked.
