The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids at the properties of some arms suppliers in Khurja Nagar area of Bulandshahr district in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. As per media reports, the weapons used in the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala were also sourced from Khurja Nagar. He was shot dead in May this year when his car was ambushed by assailants. Punjab Police have already arrested several criminals for the killing.
On early Tuesday morning, NIA sleuths, with the help of the Uttar Pradesh Police, launched a search operation at properties of arms suppliers Kurban Ansari and Rizwan in Tarinan area.
Kurban was arrested by the Delhi Police in 2016 on the charge of smuggling sophisticated weapons from Pakistan via Nepal. He was arrested along with his brother Rehan with 10 foreign-made pistols worth Rs 1 crore.
Kurban and his brother Rehan would procure high-end weapons made in the United States, Russia and Germany from Pakistan.
Police sources said the Ansari brothers procured German, Russian and USA-made pistols from Pakistan and smuggled them into India via Nepal.
The agency is trying to establish who is running the illegal arms supplier syndicate of Kurban, who died during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic last year.
As per locals, Kurban used to run an electronic switch manufacturing unit in Khurja as a frontal entity.
The sleuths also questioned family members of another arms supplier, Rizwan.
As many as six sharpshooters executed the murder of the singer who popularised rap songs in rural parts of Punjab. Out of the six, three were arrested by Delhi Police and two more – Manpreet Singh alias Mannu Kussa and Jagreet Singh alias Rupa – were gunned down by the Punjab Police in an encounter in Amritsar in July this year.
As per the police, Rupa was associated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang as a shooter. He was also in constant touch with Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar.