Three years after Ambian’s murder, last two shooters arrested

Almost three years ago, four shooters walked into a kabaddi match at the Mallian Khurd village in Jalandhar and shot international kabaddi player Sandeep Nangal Ambian multiple times at point-blank range. The player, who had captained both India and the United Kingdom, died from the first bullet shot that hit him in the middle of his forehead.

The shooters—Harjit Singh alias Harry Maur, Ravinder Singh, Puneet Lakhanpal/Sharma/Jalandhar, and Narinder Kumar Lalli—left the field in a white Maruti Swift car without being challenged. Though they were identified within a week when the Delhi and Punjab Police arrested some of the main conspirators belonging to the Kaushal Chowdhary/Lucky Patial gang and named their international handlers, it took close to three years for the police to arrest all four shooters.

The Punjab Counter-Intelligence unit nabbed six persons, including two shooters—Puneet and Lalli—in an operation from Jandiala today. Harry Maur and Ravinder Singh were arrested by Delhi Special Cell Police in September 2023, almost 18 months after the crime. The Punjab Police recovered the Swift car used in the murder and the weapons in February 2024, about two years after the murder.

The arrest is significant as these killers had been roaming free for long, carrying out murders and seeking extortion at will. Despite being pursued by police from Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, NCR, and Delhi, they managed to evade capture for years.

Ambian’s murder took place on March 14, 2022, during the transition week of change of power in Punjab from the Congress to AAP. Police claimed that the murder was the outcome of a gang turf war on controlling the money-making kabaddi leagues with a network spread in Canada, UK, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Italy.

Ambian is said to have been running a league supported by gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuriya, while the Bambiha gang wanted him to work for their leagues.

The Punjab Police had booked several individuals, including Snover Dhillon, a radio journalist in Brampton, Canada, and Surjit Singh Chatha of England, who ran his own kabaddi federation. Police also nominated gangster Sukhwinder Singh alias Sukha Duneke and Jagjit Singh alias Gandhi of Malaysia as conspirators.

Chatha was arrested last year by the Jalandhar police, while Sukha Duneke was killed by rival gangsters in Canada on September 20, 2023. Police had claimed Snover Dhillon ran “National Kabaddi Federation of Ontario,” but major players were associated with “Major League Kabaddi” managed by Sandeep Ambian. Dhillon had tried to lure Ambian with large offers and later threatened him too, but Ambian refused to join him.

Police sources said that though it took long to catch the two absconding shooters, their arrest is crucial in preventing a feared crime spree in the region.

“We are questioning them to know where they hid and how they carried out their operations,” said a senior police official involved in their arrest. “We have prevented a feared crime spree in the region with their arrests.”