Pune (Maharashtra): The Pune Police have arrested an alleged shooter and his aide in the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala from the neighbouring state of Gujarat, according to Indian media.

Moosewala, 28, was shot dead on May 29 while he was driving his Mahindra Thar SUV. About a dozen assailants fired numerous shots at him. The Brampton-based singer’s autopsy report revealed that his body bore 19 bullet injury marks.

The alleged shooter, Santosh Jadhav, 24, a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang that is allegedly responsible for Moose Wala’s murder, and his aide Navnath Suryavanshi, 27, were arrested on Sunday from Bhuj in Gujarat by a team of Pune rural police, according to Additional Director General (Law and Order) Kulwant Singh Sarangal.

He said Jadhav was apprehended in connection to a 2021 murder case registered in Pune district. He had been on the run for a year and had shaved his head and changed his appearance to avoid arrest.

(Earlier, it had been reported that the Special Cell of Delhi Police had identified two shooters from Maharashtra that were involved in Moose Wala’s murder. Their identities were revealed during the interrogation of their close aide, Sidhesh Hiraman Kamble a.k.a. Mahakal, who was arrested from Pune during a joint operation by the Delhi Police and the Maharashtra Police.)

A Pune rural police team has also gone to Delhi to interrogate Bishnoi, who is in the Delhi Police special cell custody and is said to be the mastermind behind the killing of Moose Wala, Sarangal said. The names of Jadhav and Suryavanshi had cropped up in the murder probe. Multiple police teams, including those from Delhi and Punjab, were searching from them.

Sarangal said Jadhav, Suryavanshi and Mahakal are associated with the Bishnoi gang and are suspected to have a role in the Moosewala murder case. Police are trying to figure out their exact roles.

Suryavanshi is from Satara district in Maharashtra, but his father is settled in Gujarat. Suryavanshi is accused of giving shelter to Jadhav.

“Both the accused have been arrested, They were produced before a court which remanded them to police custody till June 20,” Sarangal said.

Mahakal was arrested in a MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act) case registered against him at the Manchar police station in Pune. He was also interrogated by the Delhi Police’s special cell and Punjab Police in connection with the Moose Wala murder case.

Mahakal has also been interrogated by Mumbai Police in connection with a threat letter to scriptwriter Salim Khan and his son Salman Khan, Bollywood superstar.

Sarangal said Mahakal had knowledge about the threat letter given to Salim Khan, adding: “We are probing the case from all angles.”