Punjab Police has arrested five more persons, including two shooters, in connection with the murder case of international kabaddi player Sandeep Singh in March this year, taking the total number of arrests to nine, officials said on Sunday.
Police have also recovered seven pistols, including five foreign-made .30 bore pistols, and three vehicles from their possession, said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Jalandhar-Rural, Swapan Sharma.
Police have identified the arrested persons as Harwinder Singh alias Fauji of Bulandshahr, UP; Vikas Malhe of Gurgaon, Haryana; Sachin Dhaulia of Alwar, Rajasthan; Manjot Kaur of Sangrur, and Yadwinder Singh of Pilibhit, UP, an official statement quoting the SSP said.
On March 14, Sandeep Singh alias Sandeep Nangal Ambia was shot dead by five unidentified assailants during a kabaddi match at Mallian village in Jalandhar.
The SSP said Harwinder, who was nabbed from a village near Bulandshahr in UP, is the main coordinator in this killing, who also provided logistics support, including weapons to sharpshooters, getaway vehicles, safe houses, and training in weapon handling. Harwinder also provided financial support and helped organize recce for the execution of the crime.
Sharma said that another accused, Vikas Malhe, the main shooter, was tasked to identify and train the shooters, and later, he also accompanied Harwinder to commit the murder.
During investigation, Malhe also revealed his role in two other murder cases in Punjab, in which his involvement was not known to police, the officer added.
According to police, Harwinder and Malhe are members of Kaushal-Daggar gang which is active in Delhi, Haryana and western UP. Another accused Yadwinder Singh was working as a mediator between the gang members, they said.
Divulging more details, the SSP said that Sachin Dhaulia and Manjot Kaur were arrested for harbouring the members of gang and providing them safe passage.
In the past three weeks, police have identified and raided as many as 18 locations used as hideouts by the members of this gang and nominated several persons in this case, he added.
On March 19, police had claimed to have solved the murder case with the arrests of four main conspirators identified as Fateh Singh alias Yuvraj, a resident of Sangrur; Kaushal Chaudhary of Naharpur Roopa in Gurgaon; Amit Dagar of Maheshpur Palvan village in Haryana; and Simranjeet Singh alias Jujhar Singh of Madhopur village in UP's Pilibhit. Yadwinder is a close associate of Jujhar Singh, police said.
According to the statement, Harwinder is main coordinator of Kaushal-Daggar gang and facing at least 21 criminal cases pertaining to murder, armed dacoity and extortion in various districts of western UP and Haryana. He was a proclaimed offender in several cases registered against him, it said.
Malhe has nine criminal cases pertaining to murder and extortion registered against him in Haryana.
As per the statement, Malhe was involved in the murder of Sukhmeet Singh, a transporter, who was shot dead in Jalandhar city in June, 2021.
In January 2022, two persons namely Manpreet Challa and Manpreet Vicki, both associates of a slain gangster Kulvir Naruana, were shot dead in Bathinda. The questioning of Malhe revealed that these two killings were also organized and executed by him to avenge the arrest of Fateh Nagri, another jailed gangster of Sangrur, police said.
