Murdered India singer was hit by 24 bullets- reports

Sidhu Moose Wala

Murdered Indian singer Sidhu Moose Wala was hit by 24 bullets, health officials with access to his autopsy report have told BBC Punjabi.

Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, popularly known as Sidhu Moose Wala, was shot by unidentified people while travelling on Sunday evening. He was 28.

Thousands of fans have gathered outside his village home to pay respects. He will be cremated later on Tuesday.

Six people have been detained in connection with the murder.

The attack took place a day after his security was trimmed by the state government and the murder has led to a political storm, sparking massive outrage from fans and opposition leaders. Punjab's Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has ordered an inquiry - led by a high court judge - into the incident.

Video footage of his car showed it was sprayed with bullets, with a number of them piercing the windscreen and the bonnet.

A preliminary post-mortem, done by a team of five doctors, found bullet marks on Moose Wala's chest, feet and abdomen, sources in Punjab state's health department told BBC Punjabi.

A senior health official said a medical team would do a detailed examination of the injury marks.

On Tuesday, thousands of people gathered outside the slain rapper's home in his village - Moosa - in Mansa district to attend his cremation. A large number of police have been deployed to ensure the ceremony remained peaceful.

BBC Punjabi's Sarabjit Dhaliwal reports from the village that thousands of the rapper's fans from the neighbouring states of Haryana, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and the capital, Delhi, have arrived to pay their last respects.

They include a couple and their six-year-old son. The parents told the BBC that they had never seen the rapper but loved his music.

Long queues have formed outside the singer's home as people wait to pay their last respects amid chants of "Long live Sidhu Moose Wala".

It's obvious how much people loved Moose Wala from the emotions that we are witnessing here, our correspondent says.

On Sunday, state police chief VK Bhawra had said that a Canada-based gangster had said they were behind the attack. But Moose Wala's family demanded an apology from Mr Bhawra for linking the death to gang rivalry without a proper investigation.

On Monday, Mr Bhawra clarified in a statement that he hadn't said that Moose Wala was a "gangster or affiliated with gangsters".

"One Goldy Brar has claimed the responsibility on behalf of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. The investigation would look into all aspects regarding the murder," he said.

Opposition leaders have questioned why the singer's security cover was scaled back.

Police said that Moose Wala's security detail had been reduced to two commandos from four, and that these officers weren't travelling with the singer when he was attacked.

He was among over 400 people in Punjab whose security detail was withdrawn or scaled back recently by the government.

On Monday, police teams from Punjab and the northern state of Uttarakhand detained six people from Dehradun, news agency ANI reported quoting police sources.

Senior Uttarakhand Police official told ANI that Punjab police was questioning some of the detained men.

Source: BBC