Police nab 6 gangsters; DGP says targeted killing averted

The counter intelligence unit of the Punjab Police has arrested six members of the Kaushal Chaudhry gang, preventing a major targeted killing in the state, said DGP Gaurav Yadav on Monday. However, the police chief did not disclose who was on their hit list.

The arrests were made from near Haveli Restaurant in Amritsar’s Jandiala on Sunday evening.

Among those arrested were two sharp shooters, identified as Puneet Lakhanpal, alias Sharma, and Narinder Kumar, alias Lalli.

Both Sharma and Lalli have been evading arrest for almost three years in the brutal murder of kabaddi player Sandeep Singh Nangal Ambian, who was shot dead in March 2022.

They were also allegedly involved in the killing of former Jalandhar councillor Sukhmeet Singh, also known as Deputy, who was gunned down in 2021.

The other four nabbed by the police were Gurbhinder Singh of Chatinangal Lehal village in Amritsar; Maninderjit Singh of Badowal village in Ludhiana; Harpreet Singh of Adarsh Nagar, Guru Sahai in Ferozepur; and Sandeep Singh of Rajdhan village in Amritsar’s Mehta Amritsar.

They all were produced before a court on Tuesday, which sent them to police custody till February 1.

The police also recovered six sophisticated pistols, along with 40 live cartridges, from the six members of the gang, which is active in Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab.

“All those arrested are professional shooters of the organised criminal network of Kaushal Chaudhry gang. They execute criminal activities on the directions of their foreign-based handlers,” said the DGP.

Yadav said they had received reliable inputs that gang members the living abroad — Amarjit Singh, alias Amar; Jagjit Singh, alias Gandhi; Balwinder Singh, alias Doni; and Prabhdeep Singh, alias Prabh Dasuwal — were orchestrating a target killing in Punjab with the assistance of local operatives.