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Who is Sachin Bishnoi, the mastermind of Sidhu Moose Wala murder, extradited from Azerbaijan?

The Delhi Police Special Cell extradited Sachin Bishnoi from Baku, Azerbaijan, to India on Tuesday. A key conspirator in the murder of renowned Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala, he is the nephew of notorious criminal Lawrence Bishnoi

FP Explainers|Aug 01, 2023, 15:43:28 IST

In a significant development, the Delhi Police Special Cell extradited Sachin Bishnoi from Baku, Azerbaijan, to India on Tuesday. He was a key conspirator in the murder of renowned Punjabi singer and Congress leader Sidhu Moose Wala.Speaking to the reporters, Special CP of Delhi Police, HGS Dhaliwal said, “Today Special Cell has extradited Sachin Bishnoi from Baku, Azerbaijan. He (Sachin Bishnoi) took responsibility for killing Sidhu Moose Wala, two days after he was shot.”

Sachin’s involvement in the murder has been the subject of intense investigation since the incident occurred.So, it's expected that his arrest and extradition will result in a number of significant revelations in the murder case.Also read: Sidhu Moose Wala killing: A year on, where does the probe stand?Who is Sachin Bishnoi?Sachin Thapan Bishnoi is a resident of Fazika district in Punjab. Though the spellings used for Lawrence Bishnoi and Sachin are different -- Duttaranwali, the information provided by the police suggests that they may both be from the same village.According to the Facebook profile, Sachin was a member of a Gau Raksha Dal in Punjab.Sachin stated that Lawrence is his maternal uncle in an interview with the news outlet News18, and that he himself shot Moose Wala.

He claimed that Moose Wala was murdered because he "financially supported and arranged for the shelter" of gangsters who assassinated Vicky Middukhera, a leader of the Youth Akali Dal, rather than for any "publicity stunt" or "ransom."A resident of Middukhera village in Bathinda, Vikramjit Singh aka Vicky Middukhera, was murdered on 7 August 2021 at a parking lot in Mohali. He supported Bishnoi when he ran for student union president at DAV College in Sector 10 as the vice president of the Students Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU).Thapan told the news channel that Moose Wala's name had "come up" in the Middukhera case, but the police had taken no action, and "that is why we killed him." He claimed that Bishnoi was a "follower of Bajrang Bali and was an icon for the entire nation, not just for us."“There is no personal grudge. We are just avenging (the killings of our brothers). We don’t repent what we did…and (we) are ready for any sacrifice," he said. Sachin during the interview also said that “we have already killed several persons involved” in the murder of Brar’s cousin and “will get the remaining also killed." Additionally, he said that their gang had cutting-edge weapons like those used in "Hollywood films," reported Indian Express.According to PTI, Bishnoi, who was interrogated by the Delhi Police’s Special Cell, too has alleged that the late singer was involved in the killing of Vicky, which led to a “rivalry” between the two.The Punjab government established the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to examine into the murder of Moose Wala, and one of its members stated, "We are looking into the purported remarks made by Sachin Thapan Bishnoi. We neither confirm nor deny the remarks. But, yes, he is a suspect.”Also read: Explained: Who is Goldy Brar, detained in California, and what’s his link to the Sidhu Moose Wala murder?The extraditionSachin Bishnoi was recently arrested in Azerbaijan.According to India Today, a team from the Special Cell was deployed to Azerbaijan to retrieve Sachin Bishnoi, who had escaped the nation using a fake passport. On Sunday, the crew arrived in Azerbaijan and was completing the necessary legal procedures.The team consisting of more than four officers was entrusted with ensuring Sachin's extradition to India. The team included two inspectors from the Counter Intelligence Unit and an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP).“He fled to Dubai on a fake passport issued in the name of Tilak Raj Tuteja, a resident of Sangam Vihar in southeast Delhi. Later, he took a flight to Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, where he was detained,” an officer told Hindustan Times.According to the officer, Sachin Bishnoi appealed his extradition to a higher appellate body in Azerbaijan. “When it was rejected there earlier this month (July), we apprised the development to the (Union) Ministry of home affairs (MHA), which asked the Delhi Police to go ahead to bring the gangster back,” he said.The officer of the Special Cell also told that Sachin was also wanted for two similar assaults in Punjab and an extortion case in Delhi's Mohan Garden neighbourhood. In all three of these incidents, red corner notices were also given, the unidentified source told Hindustan Times.An international Red Notice is an order to law enforcement organisations to find and temporarily detain a suspect pending extradition, surrender, or other comparable action.Also read: Why Punjabi singer-politician Sidhu Moose Wala was such a polarising figureSidhu Moose Wala murderMoose Wala was murdered in the Punjabi area of Mansa on 29 May 2017, a day after the Punjabi government removed his security cover.A crucial member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang who lives in Canada and goes by the alias Goldy Brar, claimed responsibility for the murder in a Facebook post a few hours after it happened. Police then identified him as the murder's mastermind.The National Investigation Agency (NIA), according to HT, discovered that the suspects in the case were detained in six prisons during the planning and carrying out of Moose Wala's murder: Lawrence Bishnoi and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria (in Tihar), Manpreet aka Manna (in Ferozpur), Saraj Singh aka Mantoo in Special jail (Bathinda), and Manmohan Singh alias Mohana (in Mansa jail).According to Indian Express, earlier this week, the agency detained Lawrence's close aide Vikramjeet Singh aka Vikram Brar after his deportation from the UAE to India.The NIA further stated that, in addition to the Moose Wala case, Brar was involved in the targeted assassinations of businesses and innocent bystanders, reported Livemint.He was also involved in incidents of extortion and the smuggling of firearms in India with the help of Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar, and others.With inputs from agencies

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