Police in India say they are investigating a possible link to a Canadian gang in the murder of a Punjabi-language singer with roots in Brampton, Ontario.
Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, widely known by his stage name Sidhu Moose Wala, rose to international stardom with a string of recorded hits after moving to Canada as an international student. In recent years he returned to India, where he mounted an unsuccessful political campaign for the Indian National Congress Party in the 2022 Punjab state elections.
Moose Wala and two other people were shot in their vehicle on Sunday in Jawaharke village in Punjab’s Mansa district. They were shot by a group of assailants a day after police reduced the security teams assigned to him and more than 400 others, according to the Times of Hindustan. He was transported to the hospital where he died.
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At a Punjabi-language press conference on Sunday, Sh. Viresh Kumar Bhawra, Director General of the Punjab Police, said police suspected a “gang rivalry” involving Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang from India, adding that “his gang in Canada has taken responsibility.” .
Sidhu had been scheduled to perform at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver in July as part of his Back 2 Business Tour, one of four Canadian dates.
However, ticket sales for the Vancouver date were halted last week amid safety concerns.
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“We hadn’t received any information about a specific risk outside of doing our own due diligence on this,” said Laura Balance, a spokeswoman for the Pacific National Exposition.
“So yeah, when we started researching this particular artist, we saw the situation in other Canadian cities and abroad, and that triggered that higher level of conversation that was needed.”
Violence had previously broken out at some of his Canadian performances, including a stabbing at a Surrey event and shots at a Calgary concertboth in 2019.
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In the same year, Sidhu Moose Wala was removed from the 5X Festival schedule in Surrey after security concerns were cited by the RCMP.
Parminder Singh, a Punjabi-language NBA commentator and community advocate, knew Moosewala from his time at Brampton and described him as a “soft-spoken” and “down-to-earth” person driven by success in school. , music and political change.
While in Canada he studied at Sheridan College and Humber College.
Singh said that Sidhu Moose Wala’s unique combination of North American and Punjabi elements set him apart in the music world and helped him become an international sensation.
At the time of his death, the rapper had amassed more than 10.8 million YouTube subscribers, won multiple Brit Asia TV Music Awards, produced hits that charted in Canada, the UK and New Zealand, and released his own music stamp.
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“It was his iconic video with the CN tower in the background and his raptors jersey that really led to his musical success,” he said.
“I remember one of our first conversations when he said that Tupac was his inspiration,” rather than traditional Punjabi artists, he added.
“It’s so tragic, with his recent album, on the album cover he actually had a picture of Tupac’s vehicle being shot at. It’s crazy now that you think back and look at all these things that happened and how his life ended.”
Singh said that Sidhu Moose Wala was a strong believer in the possibility of change through politics and even encouraged his mother to run for mayor of his city.
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He had moved back to India to try to get more involved, he said. Sidhu Moose Wala also used his platform to support recent farmers’ protests in the country, he added.
“He was very stubborn in fighting this corrupt political system that he felt was very corrupt in India and he wanted to change that,” Singh said.
Vancouver police said Sunday that they had not had any contact with Indian authorities over the killing.
Global News has solicited comment from many other law enforcement agencies about a possible Canadian connection to Moosewala’s death.
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Reference-etcanada.com