Sidhu Moose Wala murder: Punjab and Haryana High Court denies bail to accused who ‘tracked’ singer’s final movements

Justice Mandeep Pannu rejected the second bail plea of Singh.

Background

• The FIR was lodged on the basis of the statement of the complainant Balkaur Singh, father of Moose Wala.
•  According to the complaint, his son, whose real name was Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, had contested the Punjab Legislative Assembly elections on a ticket of the Indian National Congress. Prior to the incident, he had allegedly been receiving threatening calls from gangsters demanding ransom, particularly from the group led by Lawrence Bishnoi and other criminal gangs.
• On May 29  2022, Moose Wala was at his residence when two acquaintances, Gurwinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh, arrived at his house in village Moosa. The singer then left with them in his car.
• Thereafter, a Bolero vehicle carrying four occupants, intercepted Moose Wala’s vehicle.
• According to the FIR, the assailants from both vehicles surrounded Moose Wala’s vehicle and opened indiscriminate fire.
• The complainant reached the spot and found his son critically injured with multiple gunshot wounds.
• Moose Wala was rushed to the Civil Hospital in Mansa but was declared dead on arrival, leading to the registration of the FIR.

Petitioner’s submissions

• The counsel for the petitioner argued that the earlier petition had been dismissed with the observation that it would be appropriate to wait for the recording of statements of the eye-witnesses before considering the prayer for bail.
• It was further submitted that the statements of the eye-witnesses have now been recorded, and therefore the petitioner’s request for bail deserved reconsideration.
• It was argued that the petitioner had not participated directly in the attack and was not present at the scene of the crime at the time of the incident.
• The counsel submitted that the only allegation against him was that he had allegedly conducted reconnaissance (reiki) and disclosed the location of the deceased to the principal accused.
• The defence also highlighted that no gunshot injury had been attributed to the petitioner and that he had already remained in custody for approximately three years and nine months. Considering the likelihood of the trial taking considerable time to conclude, the petitioner sought the concession of regular bail.

State’s opposition

• The State opposed the bail application, contending that the trial was still at a crucial stage. According to the prosecution, only two eye-witnesses had been examined so far.
• The State further pointed out that the complainant Balkaur Singh father of the deceased and a key witness in the case had only been partly examined and his further cross-examination was still pending.
• The prosecution argued that the petitioner had played a significant role in facilitating the murder by allegedly sharing the real-time location of the deceased with the main accused persons. This information allegedly enabled the attackers to intercept the vehicle and execute the murder.
• In view of the seriousness of the allegations and the pending testimony of a crucial witness, the State argued that the petitioner was not entitled to bail.

Analysis

• The high court examined the stage of the trial and the earlier order passed in the first bail application, wherein it had been observed that the request for bail should be considered after the recording of eye-witness testimonies.
• From the status report placed before the court, it emerged that although some witnesses had been examined, the testimony of a prosecution witness, the complainant and father of the deceased, had only been partly recorded. His further examination had been deferred and was yet to be completed.
• The court noted that the allegations pertain to a carefully planned and brutal murder in which the victim was intercepted on the road and fired upon by multiple assailants.
• Even though the petitioner was not alleged to have fired shots himself, the court observed that he was accused of conducting reconnaissance and providing location details of the deceased to the main conspirators.

(With inputs from Sumit Kumar Singh)