Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi : Punjab BJP leader Jagjit Singh on Monday withdrew his petition seeking a CBI probe into the murder of Punjabi singer Siddhu Moosewala, saying Punjab Police were taking care of it.
“We wanted a CBI probe but Punjab Police are taking steps so we don’t want a central agency probe any longer. We are not pressing for it,” the BJP leader’s counsel Namit Saxena told the top court.
While accepting Saxena’s request to allow him to withdraw the petition, a Bench led by Justice Ajay Rastogi said such issues shouldn’t be given political colour.
The petition was accordingly “dismissed as withdrawn”.
Moosewala was shot dead on May 29 by assailants in Punjab’s Mansa district, a day after the state government curtailed his security cover. Punjab Police alleged that the killing of the popular singer seemed to be the result of an inter-gang rivalry and that the Lawrence Bishnoi gang was involved in it. The state government has since decided to restore the security cover of all persons protected.
Alleging involvement of inter-state and international gangsters in Moosewala’s murder, Jagjit Singh had moved the Supreme Court on June 3 seeking a CBI probe.
“The accused have fled to various states and it would be in the interest of justice if the present FIR is transferred to a central agency,” he had demanded.
The state administration had not only “miserably failed” in preventing the crime but also the gang wars that had created “a storm of fear and terror” in Punjab, he had alleged.
“The way the cold-blooded killing was done in broad daylight is indicative of the fact that the state machinery in the state of Punjab has miserably failed in its duty not only to prevent the crime but also to effectively curb the menace of gang wars. “That there is a storm of fear and terror in the state of Punjab which warrants interference by this Hon’ble Court as fundamental rights of entire population of Punjab have been jeopardised…,” read the petition.
Despite having the knowledge about the death threats and intimidation the popular singer was receiving from international crime syndicates, the state government inaptly and without any reason curtailed his security cover and made the information public. Making public the names of the individuals whose official security was withdrawn or downgraded reflected a lapse on the part of the state government, the petition said.
Moosewala was receiving death threats and intimidations from international crime syndicates for the last two years and his killing had led to a “speculative public discourse” in the media which might mislead the investigation, the petitioner had submitted.
“….for the purpose of doing complete justice with the father of the deceased and instil faith in the public, this Court ought to transfer the investigation pertaining to the present FIR to the Central Bureau of Investigation,” he had said.
