More than two years after he flouted a key interim bail condition, which led to an extension plea being cancelled, a key accused in the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala managed to obtain relief from a Delhi court once again last month — and is now missing.
Shahbaz Ansari from UP’s Bulandshahr, who was arrested in December 2022 for allegedly supplying arms and ammunition to gangster Lawrence Bishnoi for the Moosewala killing in May that year, was granted interim bail for a month on June 18 by a vacation judge of the Patiala House Court.
The relief was granted on a plea from Ansari that he wanted to be with his wife, Gulfisha, when she underwent a “spine decompression surgery” at MMG Hospital in Ghaziabad. Ansari was directed to give his mobile number to the Investigating Officer and provide weekly updates until his scheduled surrender on July 18, according to court records.
Days later, however, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the case, found that Ansari’s mobile phone was switched off and his location not traceable. The agency also found that the phone was registered in the name of an Assam resident; the person who provided surety for bail had allegedly done it for money — and the hospital mentioned in the plea does not conduct such procedures.
Flagging these findings, the agency represented by Special Public Prosecutor Rahul Tyagi approached the court and got the bail cancelled on July 8. But Ansari failed to appear in court despite a notice being issued. His advocate Amit Srivastava submitted that he was not aware of his client’s whereabouts.
Ansari was first granted interim bail for five days on February 3, 2023, on the grounds that his wife was pregnant. As a condition, the court asked him to provide his contact number, place of stay, and Google Pin location to the NIA. Four days later, when he sought a 30-day extension, the NIA told the court that Ansari had not provided his location and his plea was rejected.
Ansari moved the court twice later for interim bail — in vain.
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In October 2023, he pleaded that there was no other male member in the family to conduct his sister’s wedding. But the NIA told the court that there were several other males in the family and that Ansari would get an “opportunity to harness his network of criminals”, the records show.
In January 2024, Ansari sought month-long bail — again, for his sister’s marriage which he said had been postponed. The court rejected the plea, noting that the accused “chose not to disclose” the dismissal of his earlier plea and that “material on record shows other male members are available in the immediate family”.
Last month, Ansari approached the court of vacation judge Aparna Swami, citing his wife’s surgery. Shortly after he was granted bail, the NIA moved an application through SPP Tyagi and Advocate Jatin seeking a cancellation, stating the agency couldn’t contact the phone number Ansari gave them. From June 21-23, they called the number 12 times — each time it was “either switched off or out of network area”, the agency told the court.
After finding that the number was registered to an Assam resident, the agency started an inquiry into the circumstances of Ansari getting bail — and came across several other twists.
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According to records, the Ghaziabad Police informed that Gulfisha was no longer staying at the local address that Ansari had submitted in court — it had been vacated 11 days before he was granted bail.
The NIA then tracked down the person who gave surety for Ansari’s bail — Shivam Sharma. He said he was told that Ansari was in jail in connection with a fight — he didn’t really know who he was. “I was given 1 lakh to open an FD, which I submitted for bail surety and I was paid to come to court,” the NIA cited Sharma as saying.
The NIA also sought a report from the Chief Medical Officer of MMG hospital on the surgery for Ansari’s wife. The hospital responded that “spinal decompression surgery” was not available with them as a surgical procedure. The hospital also found that the surgery mentioned was not even required in the case, and raised the possibility of “tampering of records with a whitener which raised a doubt on the genuineness of the claims”.
According to the NIA, the hospital informed that its operating surgeon had confirmed he had conducted a paravertebral decompression procedure, which is not a surgery of the vertebrae and can be performed in any operation theatre.
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Described by the NIA as a “key figure in the Lawrence Bishnoi criminal syndicate”, Ansari is accused of repeatedly supplying weapons to the gang. According to the NIA, he allegedly facilitated multiple arms deals, receiving payments amounting to several lakhs of rupees through hawala channels from Dubai. Several firearms were allegedly recovered from his possession at the time of his arrest.
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