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6 held for firing at Punjabi singer Gulab Sidhu’s house; foreign extortion link suspected
Three pistols with magazines, 10 live cartridges, five empty cartridges, an Ertiga car, and two unregistered motorcycles were recovered from the six accused
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Police have arrested six individuals 10 days after three masked men on a motorcycle allegedly opened fire at Punjabi singer Gulab Sidhu’s house at Pharwahi village in Barnala.
Three pistols with magazines, 10 live cartridges, five empty cartridges, an Ertiga car, and two unregistered motorcycles were recovered from the six accused.
Addressing a press conference in Barnala on Tuesday, deputy inspector general (DIG), Patiala range, Kuldeep Chahal said the arrests followed a coordinated operation by police teams of Barnala and Sangrur besides counter-intelligence personnel. He said the suspects include the primary shooters and accomplices who provided vehicles, assisted in the crime, and managed related social media activities.
Chahal said police arrested the two primary shooters—Gurwinder Singh and Gurpiar Singh—following a brief exchange of fire on the Barnala-Mansa road on Tuesday morning. When joint police teams attempted to apprehend them, the suspects opened fire. Both suffered leg injuries during the encounter: One sustained a bullet wound to the leg, while the other fractured his leg attempting to flee on a motorcycle. Gurwinder has prior criminal charges, including offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The DIG said the motive behind the shooting was extortion, adding that the accused are linked to overseas gang handlers and were planning another major crime.
The remaining four men arrested were identified as Gurwinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Ramanpreet Singh, and Gaurav Sharma, all residents of Sangrur district.
The shooting occurred between 1.30am and 2am on the night of September 12 and 13, when three masked men fired six rounds at Sidhu’s residence before fleeing. While Sidhu was away in Australia, his father, mother, wife, and children were inside at the time of the attack.
Sidhu, who has 1.7 million Instagram followers, was a close associate of the late singer Sidhu Moose Wala, who was killed in Mansa on May 29, 2022. Last year, Sidhu faced public backlash over a controversial song about sarpanches (village heads), for which he later issued an apology.
Following the shooting, a purported audio clip attributed to gangster Doni Bal circulated on social media claiming responsibility. In the unverified audio, the speaker accused Sidhu of using Moose Wala’s name while attending events hosted by associates of Moose Wala’s killers. “He could not hear the rings of our phone calls. So we rang his doorbell to give him a little sense,” the recording claimed. Police have not confirmed the authenticity of the clip.
A first information report (FIR) was registered under Sections 109 (attempt to murder), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), 191(3) (rioting while armed with a deadly weapon) and 190 (unlawful assembly) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and Section 25 of the Arms Act at the Barnala Sadar police station. Police said that Section 308 (5) and 111 has also been added to the FIR.
Police said efforts are underway to arrest the third shooter in the case.
