Moosewala murder: A Sangrur village that is sharing Moosa’s grief

“He used to visit this village once or twice every month to meet his would be in-laws. But that used to be a totally private affair,” recalls Chetbant Singh, sarpanch of Sangreri village.

Moosewala’s fiancé had come to India in January this year when the Congress leader was in the thick of campaigning for the February 20 Punjab Assembly polls. His marriage had earlier been postponed to this year-end, but no final date had been set, revealed sources.

Parkash Chand Garg, former SAD MLA, said, “Moosewala was engaged to the niece of senior Akali worker, Harjinder Singh. The family was busy in making arrangements for the wedding. But who would have imagined that fate had something else in store for us. No one here has been able to overcome the shock of his sudden death.”

The mother of Moosewala’s fiancé, Manjeet Kaur, had been elected as a sarpanch of Sangreri in 2013. She did not contest the polls in 2018. Sources said that Moosewala’s would be in-laws were farmers who owned agricultural land in Sangreri as well as in many other villages of Sangrur. Besides this, family also had interests in several other businesses related to electrical equipment, solar power plant and owned some storage godowns. The family stayed in Sangreri, but often frequented Patiala where they own another house, sources said.

Moosewala was born in the remote village of Moosa in Mansa, considered the least developed district in Punjab on several parameters. He, however, single handedly helped put Moosa on the world map by belting out hits that captured the imagination of Punjabi youths across the globe. Often faced with criticism for glorifying weapons in his songs, Moosewala actually never shied away from declaring his love for them.

In his hit single “Me and my girlfriend”, the singer can be seen with a girl, with the opening lines of the song being, “Jatt di mashook biba Russia tau”. In that song too, the Punjabi rockstar can be spotted flaunting his weapon with him. The police say that the day he died, he was gunned down while firing back at his attackers from a pistol that he always carried with him.

Not just his girlfriend, Moosewala has also dedicated a song to his mother with the title “My Dear Mama”, in which he says “Maan mainu lagda main jamma tere varga aan” (Mother, I think that I am identically like you)”. Both the singer’s parents feature in the video of the song.

Apart from this, Moosewala has also lent his voice to a song called “Baapu”, in which he says “Father you have done for me the whole life .. now it is time to give that burden to me.”

Sangreri village has a population of 2400 people, with 1700 votes. Out of the 1700 votes, nearly 1000 are Jatt Sikhs. The village falls in Sunam constituency of Sangrur district. “We have a middle school. The village’s outer road needs repair. The sewerage pipes also need to be widened. Sangrur is due for bypolls, and these are the issues that that needs to be highlighted. However, the sole issue for us at the moment seems to be getting justice for Moosewala. We want his murderers to be arrested and given exemplary punishment. Punjab has lost a star. His parents have lost their only son,” Chetbant Singh said.