Singer Sidhu Moose Wala Murder: Suspect, Hiding Among Pilgrims, Detained

A suspect in the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala has been detained in Uttarakhand, police sources have said today. The suspect had been hiding among pilgrims who are part of the Hemkund Sahib yatra in the mountains when a joint Punjab and Uttarakhand police team detained him, they said, adding the suspect is being taken to Punjab now.

The suspect detained from Dehradun today is a member of Lawrence Bishnoi gang, who has claimed responsibility for the singer's killing, sources have said.

Five more suspects have been detained from Uttarakhand. All of them are being taken to Punjab.

Sidhu Moose Wala was shot dead while he was driving his SUV in Punjab's Mansa yesterday.

The singer, who had also contested the Punjab elections earlier this year on a Congress ticket, was shot 30 times with an automatic assault rifle, the police said.

Punjab Police chief VK Bhawra has said the killing seemed to be the result of an inter-gang rivalry. "This incident seems to be a case of an inter gang rivalry," he told reporters, adding the name of the singer's manager, Shagunpreet, had figured in the murder of a youth Akali leader, Vicky Middukhera, last year. Shagunpreet had then fled to Australia.

Sidhu Moose Wala's murder appears to be in retaliation to Middukhera's killing, the police chief said.