Five persons were detained from Uttarakhand’s Dehradun city in connection with the murder of singer Sidhu Moose Wala, PTI reported, citing the Punjab Police. They were picked up from the Shimla bypass of Dehradun and taken to Punjab for interrogation.

Moose Wala was shot dead in the Jahawarke village of Mansa district in Punjab on Sunday evening. Two others were injured after the assailants opened fire at a jeep Moose Wala was travelling in. The attack took place just a day after the Punjab government withdrew security cover for 424 persons, including the singer and Congress leader.

Inspector-General of Police (Faridkot range) Pradeep Yadav said the police have got some important leads in the case.

“How the conspiracy was hatched, we will share the details soon,” Yadav said, according to The Tribune. “Who did the recce? Who were the hitmen? We will unravel it.”

The Punjab Police also said that the three cars used in the crime have been recovered. This includes an Alto which was stolen from a family and allegedly used by the accused persons after killing Moose Wala, The Indian Express reported. The car was found abandoned in Dharamkot city.

“It [the Alto car] did not have any registration number plate when we recovered it,” Senior Superintendent of Police of Moga, Gulneet Singh Khurana, said, according to the newspaper. “However later we found the plate inside the vehicle. Mansa Police was informed and they will take over the case.”

The police also said that two of Moosewala’s friends – Gurwinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh – who were with him during the attack and also received bullet wounds, were undergoing treatment at the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana.

Mansa Senior Superintendent of Police Gaurav Toora said that the two underwent surgeries to get bullets removed from their bodies and they are out of danger.

“Their statements could not be recorded today as they were medically unfit,” Toora said, according to The Indian Express.

On Sunday, the Punjab Police had said that the killing of Moose Wala was the result of a gang rivalry.

“Lawrence Bishnoi gang is involved in this murder,” Director General of Police VK Bhawra had said at a press briefing. “Lucky, a member of the gang has taken responsibility from Canada.”

Bhawra had said that Moose Wala’s killing could likely be in retaliation for the murder of Shiromani Akali Dal leader Vicky Middukhera last year. He had said that the name of Moose Wala’s manager Shagunpreet Singh had surfaced in the Middukhera murder case. Singh has been absconding since then.

The Lawrence Bishnoi gang has alleged that the police had failed to take any action against Moose Wala in the Middukhera murder case.

‘Nobody is feeling safe’

Opposition leaders in Punjab on Monday targeted the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government over Moose Wala’s killing.

The Congress’ Punjab unit President Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said that there was a frightening atmosphere across the state.

“Nobody is feeling safe as this government has left people at the mercy of criminals and gangsters who are killing people at their sweet will,” Warring said, according to PTI.

Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said that Moose Wala would not have been killed had his security not been withdrawn.

Bharatiya Janata Party National General Secretary Tarun Chugh said that Mann, who holds the home ministry in the Punjab Cabinet, owed an explanation to the state about why information about Moose Wala’s security was made public.