What’s common between the killings of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, UP gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, and Maharashtra NCP leader Baba Siddique? In all three cases, the murder weapon was similar — a Zigana pistol made in Turkey.
This was the pistol that was also used by the two shooters who opened fire outside Bollywood actress Disha Patani’s residence in Bareilly, which police later recovered.
According to a senior police officer, the Zigana pistol is highly popular among gangsters in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, and Rajasthan for its ability to fire over 15 rounds in one go, its low chance of jamming, and high accuracy.
Police said CCTV footage of the firing at Patani’s residence attests to this, showing that a single pull of the trigger released multiple rounds.
The shooting was carried out by Ravindra (24) and Arun (27), belonging to the Rohit Godara-Goldy Brar gang.
Around 3.30 am on September 12, the duo, who were on an Apache motorcycle, fired around 8-10 rounds at Patani’s residence and fled.
On Wednesday evening, the men were shot dead in a joint encounter by the Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Delhi Police in Ghaziabad.
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Police recovered a Zigana pistol from the encounter site. They also recovered an Austrian Glock pistol, widely used by the Indian police forces, from the shooters.
While Zigana pistols are manufactured in Turkey, the police officer said counterfeit versions are easily available in Pakistan. Its price goes up to Rs 2-4 lakh by the time it reaches the end user in India, the officer added.
Police discovered that in 2022, a significant number of such pistols were allegedly smuggled into India from Pakistan via drones and supplied to shooters associated with jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi for the assassination of Sidhu Moosewala.
Later, similar firearms were found to have been used in the killings of Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in Prayagraj in 2023, as well as in the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique in Mumbai in 2024.
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Sources claimed that a Zigana pistol was even gifted to the Jitender Maan alias Gogi gang by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, when the two collaborated to operate in Delhi-NCR in early 2021.
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