Why was the Indian hip hop star Sidhu Moose Wala murdered?
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He was a huge music star with millions of fans around the globe. He was like a household name. An international icon. But his fame came at a cost. The Indian singer and rapper Sidhu Museewala has been shot dead near his home in the North Indian state of Punjab. I'm Ishleen Kaur

And I spent the last two years searching for answers. Who wanted Sidhu Musiala dead and why? Sidhu Musiala's murder can't be just an open and shut case. World of Secrets, The Killing Call from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Siddhu Musiwala was one of India's best-known rappers. He was celebrated at home and abroad, and Rolling Stone, the music magazine, described him as one of India's most powerful music exports in a generation. He was friends with Drake, and he had collaborated with the likes of Burner Boy.

In 2022, he was murdered in his car. No one's faced trial for the killing. But a gangster based in Canada has now spoken to a BBC reporter going into detail about the rapper's murder and claiming that he ordered it.

And on today's episode, you're going to hear from the BBC reporter he spoke to about why he says he did it and how this has impacted the ongoing investigation. I'm Hannah Gelbart, and this is What In The World from the BBC World Service. To find out about this case, I'm speaking to the journalist at the heart of this, BBC investigative journalist, Islin Kaur. Hi.

Hi, Hannah. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for bringing us this important story. So let's start with some of the background. Who was Sidi Mousiwala? What was his life like before he became famous?

So Sidhu Moosewala was born Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu and he came from a village called Moosa, which is a small underdeveloped area in Punjab in northern India. And that's how he got his stage name, Sidhu Moosewala, or it translates to Sidhu of the village Moosa. Now Sidhu started out singing folk songs, traditional ballads rooted in Punjab history. But very soon he discovered American hip hop.

That's when everything changed for him. He fused the two genres and almost overnight he became a megastar. He transformed Punjabi folk into rap and he created something entirely new. What really stood out was seeing a turbaned Sikh stepping out of the usual mould, breaking free from the boxes that people tried to put him in. He

He really embodies that classic rural Sikh vibe. But at the same time, he's part of this westernized Sikh diaspora. I think it's that contrast that made him so unique. It's that clash of worlds, the old school meets the new wave. Now, Sidhu moved to Canada in 2017 from Punjab. It was there in Canada, Hannah, that he found the fame.

People I've interviewed have told me that they saw two Sidus. One who was making music, writing those powerful lyrics. And when he came onto the stage, the way he would walk on the stage like a tiger, almost ready to break. That's the Sidu that no one sort of knew. But he changed the moment he would be on stage.

So he was not only known in India, but also outside of India, in Canada, in the UK. His music videos have more than 5 billion views. He had a top spot in the UK charts and he collaborated with so many international artists, Burner Boy, Steph London, etc.

I don't think it's hyperbole to say that he became one of the most ubiquitous faces of Punjab's fertile hip-hop scene. He himself, Sidhu, has been called a bit of a bad boy lyricist. What were some of the things that he sung about and how did these themes play out in his songs? That's right, Hannah, you are right. He was called a bad boy lyricist. And the songs, the music, the lyrics that Sidhu Mooseyala brought, it was a clear disruption. It was nothing like Punjabis had ever seen before.

And people I interviewed for the documentary and the podcast told me that Sidhu peeled back the curtain on the darker side of rural Punjab. So he spoke about drugs, the crime, the corruption. It was all stuff that's too real and people barely talk about it.

Now, Sidhu's career spanned five years and he penned some really powerful lyrics that delved into both Punjab's history and its present-day realities. His journey did start with tracks centered on guns, machismo, bravado, gangster culture, themes that sometimes also drew some legal scrutiny, you know, because he was very often criticized for promoting gun culture and he stirred controversy with some provocative lyrics.

things changed for him also when he returned to India. Siddhu became deeply engaged with the cultural and political landscape of Punjab. People called him the son of Punjab and he really loved his village and his people there. So what truly set him apart from his peers was his ability to challenge the conventional narratives. He offered a very bold alternative vision of Punjabi identity.

If you talk about his lyrics, one track that comes to mind is Punjab, My Motherland. Sidhu wrote that track during the farmers' agitation in India in 2020. In that track, he challenged the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, directly. It's all there in the lyrics.

He's talking about, don't ever mess with the Punjab. You'll never oppress us. You mentioned the film, the documentary that you have been working on. It's called The Killing Call and people listening to this might want to watch it on the BBC World Service YouTube channel. And of course, one of the reasons that you have been looking into this was Siddhu Musiwala's murder. So let's talk a bit about that now. What happened? What do we know about his death?

Sidhu Moosewala was at the height of his fame. It was just three years, over three years ago in May 2022. Sidhu was shot dead in his car outside his home village. And almost immediately, a gangster called Goldie Bra claimed responsibility for ordering the hit. So,

There was never really any mystery about who killed Sidhu Mooseyala. But what wasn't clear was how Sidhu Mooseyala crossed paths with these guys in the first place. I mean, he was a musician, right? So how did he end up a target for one of India's most feared gangs?

And that's exactly what the documentary and the podcast tell everyone. It tells the story of how Goldie Brar, along with Lawrence Pishnoi, who is his associate and is in a high security jail in India, they came to believe that Sidhu Musiala was supporting their gangland rivals. Goldie Brar accused Sidhu Musiala without any evidence of being complicit in another gangland killing that happened in Punjab a year earlier than Sidhu's death.

And according to Bra's story, Sidhu was killed as revenge, a form of gangland justice. It is also crucial to say that there is no evidence that Sidhu Musiala was involved in that killing that Bra mentions or in any gang-related crime.

But that is the justification that Goldie Braugh offered us. There was also another motive that we uncovered. One of the revelations in the film is that the Punjabi music scene in India and in Canada is plagued with extortion. Singers get asked for protection money. They get told to hand over cash. Or sometimes gangsters would ask them to give away song rights, which is also lucrative.

And there's a lot of evidence that gangsters were trying to extort money from Sidhu Musiala himself. But it was really this killing, Sidhu's killing, that put one gang in the spotlight. And that's the gang of Goldie Bra and his associate Lawrence Bishnoi. Before the murder, a lot of people hadn't heard of Goldie Bra or Lawrence Bishnoi.

But after this killing, they became widely known and widely feared in India, in Canada and around the world. They turned Moose Allah's fame into their own notoriety. And Goldie Bratt told me himself that fear makes it easy for them to extort money. Where is the investigation at now?

So it's been three years to the brutal killing of Sidhu Musiala. No one has faced trial. Lawrence Bishnoi is in a high security jail in India. He is awaiting trial and Goldie Brow is still on the run. His whereabouts are unknown. Both these guys have been charged with Sidhu's murder. So Goldie Brow called you from his undisclosed location on the run.

What happened when he called you? What was that like for you? Well, Hannah, I have to say that, you know, he's an international fugitive. He's a man who's wanted internationally. So it wasn't like I had Goldie's number and I could call him up. How did he get your number? Well, there was no easy road to getting to him. So I chased Goldie for a long time, for a very long time. It took almost a year.

It was months and months of chasing, waiting, reaching out. But I had to be persistent because it mattered. He was the one who publicly claimed responsibility for killing Siddharth Mooseyala. So I knew that the only person who can answer the important questions was Goldie Brahe. So I went through various sources, every possible channel. It was a long, drawn-up process. But then when he called, things happened so quickly.

I remember this so vividly, Hannah. It was a crisp autumn morning. I got a call. I answered it and it was him. Hi, Aisling. It's me, Goldie Brad. Yeah, I am getting your messages from like around a year now. You are asking about the incident, right? Why it happened, how it happened. So yeah, I'm going to tell you some incidents I know about.

He agreed to do the interview. We tried different modes of doing the interview, but then finally we agreed on exchanging voice messages. It was a long day. We exchanged voice messages for over six hours. Why do you think he agreed to speak to you? What was in it for him? In gangland world, it was important for him, as I read,

He had done an interview with a local journalist in Punjab earlier, and he had told that journalist, this was right after Sidhu's killing, and he had told that journalist that, I don't want you to go looking for anyone who

I'm the one who ordered this hit. So it was very sort of strangely important for him to tell the world that he was the person responsible for this killing. In the long interview, you know, the power of a long conversation, he did confess that although he does claim it was revenge, an act of retribution, but he also said that

that it is the fear. It's the fear that makes it easy for them to extort money. Now they are the most feared gangsters in India and in Canada as well.

So our investigation found that the killing was really about creating fear and monetizing that fear. Were you 100% sure that it was the Goldie Barre and it wasn't just a prankster calling you up and pretending to be him? I have to say that one can never be sure, but we did all our checks. First off, I got his number from a source who's known Goldie Barre for ages, a journalist. And this is even before Sidhu's killing.

Then I did a bit of digging. I compared his voice to an old interview he'd done with a local Punjabi channel. It was a dead match. Goldie Bra then sent over a bunch of photos of himself with some key players in the story. Images which we have checked and confirmed are to be found nowhere else on the internet. We might never have rock solid proof, but the way he spoke over several conversations was

He clearly knew every detail of the story from the inside with the photos to prove it. And all signs point to the fact that I was talking to Goldie Bra himself. Were you afraid at any point of receiving messages from someone as powerful and dangerous? When you start following a story, you're so immersed in that story that all you think about is chasing the source and getting your interview through.

After I had that voice message exchange with him where I did ask him some very tough and very challenging questions and I could see after a few messages, I could hear the irritation in his voice. I remember one voice message where he said, Madam, I think your research is incomplete and you should go back and do your homework. So I could sense that he was getting slightly irritable.

How has that new information, those messages, how have they impacted the investigation? Where does this all stand now? So we also, Hannah, for the documentary and the podcast, interviewed the Punjab police.

Since Goldie Bra had claimed responsibility online, that is a warrant out for him. The police have filed an extradition request for him. The Punjab police had already told us that Sidhu's murder was linked to a long-running gang feud. And the authorities have apprehended several individuals. The case remains unresolved until Goldie Bra is extradited and formally interrogated. But as of now...

We do say this, that there's no evidence linking Sidhu Mooseyala directly to any gangland crime. But Sidhu Mooseyala's father has tried to get an injunction, which means he tried to get a judicial order, which could restrain the documentary from being aired. And the case is still in court. But one hasn't been granted yet. He has not challenged the accuracy of the journalism.

His main objection, as far as we understand it, is that the BBC didn't seek his permission before making a documentary about his son. And I must say this, that of course we understand the family's grief. But Siddharth Musiala was a major public figure. He remains a legitimate subject for reporting and the whole story is clearly in public interest.

We believe that the BBC has told the story with fairness, accuracy. We follow the evidence and that we have treated Sidhu Mooseyala with dignity, with respect.

It's important to say, Hannah, that we did invite his father, Balchor Singh, to give an interview on multiple occasions, but the father chose not to and we have respected his decision. Ishleen, there is so much to this story. Your film's called The Killing Call and it's on the BBC World Service YouTube channel. So if anyone's listening and wants to find out a bit more about that. And there is also the World of Secrets podcast, which people can listen to wherever they get their BBC podcast. Ishleen, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me, Hannah.

That is it for today's episode. Thank you so much for joining us. This is What In The World from the BBC World Service. I'm Hannah Gelbart and I'll see you next time. He was a huge music star with millions of fans around the globe. He was like a household name. An international icon. But his fame came at a cost. The Indian singer and rapper Sidhu Musewala has been shot dead near his home in the North Indian state of Punjab. I'm Ishleen Kaur and I'm...

I spent the last two years searching for answers. Who wanted Sidhu Musiala dead and why? Sidhu Musiala's murder can't be just an open and shut case. World of Secrets, The Killing Call from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.