Facing 2 FIRs, Moosewala let off with challan

Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, June 6

Amid claims by the Punjab Police of carrying out raids to nab Punjabi singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu Moosewala, facing two FIRs over illegal use of firearms, the Nabha police today let him off after challaning his vehicles for a minor offence.

The two vehicles of the singer were stopped and challaned for having tinted glasses. The police initially took him to the DSP office, but let him off following “orders from the top”, said a cop.

On May 5, the Dhuri police in Sangrur had booked the singer and five cops under Section 188 of the IPC and Disaster Management Act after a video surfaced showing him shooting from service weapons at a Barnala firing range. Stringent sections of the Arms Act were later added to the FIR. A day earlier, Moosewala and others were booked under Section 188 of the IPC and Disaster Management Act for flashing weapons at Dhanaula, Barnala. The Barnala police sent him a notice to join investigation on June 12.

Nabha DSP Rajesh Chhibber said: “SHO Sarabjit Cheema stopped the vehicles. The singer claimed he had procured bail in the cases and the SHO let him off.” Police in Sangrur and Barnala, however, said the singer had neither applied for anticipatory bail nor joined investigation.

On why he wasn’t arrested, IG (Patiala Zone) Jatinder Singh Aulakh said the Sangrur police had issued him a notice for joining probe.