Punjab Police has arrested four key operatives of the Bambiha gang, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said on Friday.

He said that the arrested criminals were being handled by absconding foreign-based gangster Gaurav Kumar alias Lucky Patyal. The DGP identified the arrested persons as Lakhvir Kumar alias Lucky of Jawaharpur village in Dera Bassi, Ravi Kumar alias Fauji of Gadhapur village in Patiala, Gurvinder Singh alias Matto of Bithonia village in Patiala, and Jatinder Singh alias Soni of Dera Bassi.

Police have recovered four pistols, including two sophisticated automatic and semi-automatic foreign-made pistols and two country made pistols, along with 25 live cartridges from their possession and also impounded their two motorcycles, he said. Yadav said that a team of the AGTF under the supervision of Additional DGP Promod Ban arrested the four men in a joint operation with the Mohali Police following inputs from near a school on the old Ambala-Kalka road in Dhakoli on the outskirts of Chandigarh.

The four were on their way on motorcycles when they were nabbed, police said. The DGP said the preliminary investigation has revealed that gangster Lucky Patyal had given assignments to the arrested men to attack specific targets in Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh.  AGTF Additional Inspector General Sandeep Goel said that an investigation is on and more revelations about the crimes committed by the Bambiha gang are expected.

The Bambiha gang, which was run by gangster Davinder Bambiha from Moga district, is involved in several cases of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, and other violent crimes in Punjab. The gangster was killed in an encounter in 2016. However, the gang still continues to operate.