Images doing the rounds on social media lay naked the ruthless nature of the crime. They present the 28-year-old star slumped on the motive force’s seat of his black SUV, his crimson t-shirt soaked in blood and face slashed by damaged glass from the automobile. More than two dozen bullets, fired from automated weapons, have been present in his physique, the preliminary postmortem report has discovered.

The assault, which passed off a day after Moose Wala’s safety element was decreased by the Punjab authorities, was carried out by members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, police have alleged.

A Facebook put up attributed to Bishnoi’s Canada-based affiliate Goldy Brar additionally quickly appeared, bragging concerning the homicide. It was an act of vengeance, the put up stated, for the function they claimed Moose Wala performed within the killings of two males: Youth Akali chief Vicky Middukhera final 12 months, and Bishnoi aide Gurlal Brar in 2020.

Now, Lawrence Bishnoi, presently in Tihar Jail, has stated he fears being killed in an “encounter”.

This, although, isn’t a singular case. As a profitable musician and a Congress chief who had contested this 12 months’s meeting polls (though he misplaced to the AAP’s Vijay Singla), Moose Wala is a very high-profile sufferer, however “gang culture” has existed in Punjab for many years and has been troublesome to shake regardless of clampdowns by the police.

Extortion, homicide, medicine, and harsh blood feuds are only one facet of this. Fuelled by songs and viral movies, gang tradition has additionally achieved cult standing in sections of the inhabitants for its associations with a form of vigilante heroism, moneyed glamour, and social consciousness with an edge. Moose Wala’s life and demise have each mirrored this tradition, though he has not been named as a gang member himself.

ThePrint takes a have a look at how gang tradition advanced in Punjab and the way it has turn out to be deeply embedded within the standard creativeness.

Also learn: Sidhu Moose Wala’s killing planned ‘6 months ago’ but ‘bodyguards came in the way’

Live quick, die younger

Just over a month earlier than Moose Wala’s killing, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann introduced the organising of a devoted Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF), since gang-related crimes have been reportedly on the rise despite the fact that almost 300 out of 500 recognized gangsters, belonging to about 70 gangs, had been put behind bars by the Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU).

But there are nonetheless a number of lively teams — recognized to have interstate operations and transnational hyperlinks — which can be infamous not only for extortion and homicide makes an attempt, but additionally for his or her bloody rivalries, which they often brazenly declare via provocative posts and movies on social media.

Well earlier than there was such a factor as Facebook, the “Punjabi mafia” in Canada, recognized for his or her flashy life-style and drug-running, but additionally for asserting their cultural id, have been threatening and difficult one another in TV appearances.

One outstanding occasion of that is the bitter feud between Vancouver’s Bindy Johal and Ranjit ‘Ron’ Dosanjh within the Nineteen Nineties.

In a 1994 look, Ron Dosanjh advised Bindal, who he believed had killed his brother Jimmy Dosanjh: “I wouldn’t shoot you in the back. I’d do it face-to-face, square in the forehead.” Two weeks later, Ron Dosanjh was shot useless in broad daylight.

Meanwhile, in Punjab too, a parallel gang tradition, outlined by the dictum of ‘live fast die young’, began spreading within the Eighties, with universities and pupil politics rising as nurseries of crime.

In the early Eighties, one such determine was Makhan Singh, a pacesetter of the Panjab University Students Union (PUSU), who was reportedly referred to by the police as a “godfather” and inspiration for different gangsters. Makhan Singh was engaged in a feud with one other group known as the Cheema gang and was shot dead on the college students’ centre of the college.

Since then, there have been many ‘notorious’ gangsters which have repeatedly popped up on the radar of the police, however have additionally achieved a form of Robinhood standing with their capability to offer vigilante ‘justice’, in accordance with specialists.

Some additionally joined politics, given their ‘status’ as mass leaders — like Fazilka’s Jaswinder Singh ‘Rocky’, who at one level was dealing with about 30 circumstances of homicide, extortion, kidnapping, conspiracy, unlawful confinement and possession of unlawful weapons (he was acquitted in 18). He was pursuing a profession in politics and combating elections earlier than he was shot useless on the Shimla freeway in 2016.

“In public, all these gangsters project that they are working and risking their lives for the common people. This is very attractive for the villagers,” Sarabjit Singh, who works with the non-profit Punjab Human Rights Organisation, stated.

For occasion, in 2017, members of the Shera Khuban gang purportedly vowed to avenge an assault exterior a temple on a lady from the Akali Dal. “We don’t believe in police investigations. Keep your pistol ready, we will see how many shots you fire. If you have the guts, message us in the inbox,” a gang member reportedly introduced on Facebook.

Another infamous gangster was Prabhjinder Singh Brar ‘Dimpy’, an alleged contract killer and henchman for politicians in UP, Punjab and Haryana, who was wished in these three states, in addition to Bihar, Karnataka and Delhi.

When Dimpy was released on bail as soon as in 2006, he was welcomed by 25,000 folks, and 500 automobiles had reportedly lined up on either side of the Bathinda-Kotkapura highway. He was gunned down later that 12 months by motorcycle-borne shooters whereas he was sitting in his automobile.

Then there was Vicky Gounder, who gained infamy after his gang reportedly killing the “sharpshooter” and don Sukha Kahlon (who was himself wished by police throughout a number of states in dozens of circumstances involving violent crime) to avenge the killing of one other gangster.

Gounder allegedly shot Kahlon, who was known as “yara da yaar (friend of friends)”, on the Amritsar-Delhi nationwide freeway when he was being taken in a police van for a case, danced over his physique, and filmed the act earlier than fleeing. The police personnel have been reportedly held at gunpoint. In the notorious Nabha jailbreak of 2016, Gounder was one of many escapees.

Most gangsters are inclined to die younger, which solely provides to their mythic enchantment. The “most-wanted” Gounder, too, was killed in an alleged police encounter in 2018. When his body, shrouded in white sheets and a inexperienced turban reached his ancestral village Sarawan Bodla, in Muktsar, Punjab, it was reportedly a spectacle. ‘Fans’ of this 27-year-old sportsman-turned-gangster are stated to have gone berserk. Social media pages dedicated to the person who had allegedly picked up weapons on the age of 14, sprang up.

Young boys, barely of their teenagers, posted photos of Gounder — and themselves — flashing weapons and vowed to avenge his demise.

The cycle of vengeance and violence, tinged with ‘hero worship’, has been related within the case of Moose Wala’s demise, which is suspected to be an final result of the rivalry between the Lawrence Bishnoi and Devendar Bambiha gangs.

When these gangs wish to make a press release, as a Delhi Police officer advised ThePrint in an earlier report, there’s a customary modus operandi: make it grotesque, declare duty on social media, and set up supremacy. The Bishnoi gang, the police officer had added, is thought to bathe bullets on the goal.

“They carry out these killings for two motives — eliminating rival gang members, and to send a message to potential rivals and others from whom they want to extort money,” he stated.

It’s unlikely that the cycle will finish right here. Bishnoi — who was a national-level athlete and a pacesetter of the Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) earlier than taking to crimes like kidnapping and extortion — has allegedly acquired demise threats from “gangsters” in Delhi and presenting him in courts for hearings in numerous circumstances is a fear for the police (he’s presently in Tihar) as they need to make elaborate security preparations.

Like a number of different alleged gangsters prior to now, Bishnoi has allegedly posted clips on social media and has been accused of ordering killings whereas in jail. Police have recovered cell phones from his cell a number of instances prior to now.

Meanwhile, there are fears that Moose Wala’s premature demise could possibly be romanticised and additional encourage youth to emulate gang tradition.

Grief, glamour, weapons

There has been an outpouring of grief from followers after Sidhu Moose Wala’s demise. Hundreds camped exterior the singer’s mansion in Moosa village so they might attend his funeral, one 19-year-old attempted suicide in despair, and legions of others paid tribute within the feedback sections of Moose Wala’s YouTube movies: “Heroes are always remembered, but legends never die”; “He has become immortal”; “His songs signified revolution, fight, freedom, and struggle against the odds of our society.”

It’s an enormous response for a singer who was unknown till 5 years in the past.

A local of Moosa village in Mansa district, Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu went to school to be an engineer earlier than transferring to Canada on a student visa in 2016.

What made him famous almost overnight as Sidhu Moose Wala was his tune ‘So High’ in 2017, with simplistic however machismo-laden lyrics like “Ho karda Canada vichon deal soniye; Munda poori gangsta appeal soniye… (The guy deals in Canada, girl; The guy has a gangster appeal, girl).”

The swag within the movies — diamond watches on each wrists, weapons, cash spilling out of automobiles — and music labored however so did his id, which integrated the identify of his village and Jatt Sikh roots, however juxtaposed with a high-flying worldwide life-style.

For many, particularly in villages, this sort of packaging is aspirational, Sarabjit Singh stated.

In a comparatively brief time, Moose Wala garnered an enormous fanbase, with greater than 11 million subscribers on his YouTube channel and eight.4 million followers on Instagram. His reputation earned him a Congress ticket and he grew to become referred to as a champion of the farmers who have been protesting three controversial farm legal guidelines (now repealed) launched by the central authorities in 2020.

The different a part of this life-style have been death threats, armed bodyguards, and a bulletproof automobile.

While it isn’t recognized whether or not Moose Wala had any precise gang affiliations, he was usually accused of being a part of an ecosystem that inspired violence and lawlessness.

In February 2020, the singer was booked for allegedly selling gun tradition and violence via his tune ‘5 Goliyan (five bullets)’. An FIR was registered in opposition to him on a grievance filed by Chandigarh-based lawyer H.C. Arora. Ludhiana Police additionally summoned the singer on the grievance of an RTI activist, Kuldeep Singh Khaira, who alleged that Moose Wala’s tune promoted gun tradition and violence.

In May 2020, two movies of Moose Wala’s went viral, wherein he was coaching to make use of an AK-47 with 5 law enforcement officials, and a private pistol in one other. The law enforcement officials who assisted him have been suspended and Moose Wala was booked for violating the lockdown.

A PIL was filed by lawyer Ravi Joshi within the Punjab and Haryana High Court alleging that Punjab Police has not booked the controversial singer below stringent provisions of legislation. After this, provisions of the Arms Act and felony conspiracy have been added to the FIRs registered in opposition to him.

In his tune ‘Sanju’, which makes use of video clips from the time of Sanjay Dutt’s arrest within the Arms Act, the singer compares himself to the actor. He says he has been booked below the identical Act as Dutt and despite the fact that the minimal sentence for this crime is 5 years, police circumstances in opposition to gutsy males are widespread and he’ll combat it out.

Yet, in his remaining tune, ‘The Last Ride’, which he posted on YouTube two weeks earlier than his demise, Moose Wala struck a fatalistic be aware.

Recreating scenes from the assassination of American rapper Tupac Shakur, his inspiration, Moose Wala sang that demise would come to him early, however he has turn out to be immortal whereas he lives.

(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)

Also learn: ‘Inspiration, immortal’ — Fans throng Moose Wala home with talk of revenge & a grim ‘premonition’

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