Chandigarh: In yet another big jolt to Gangster Goldy Brar and Anmol Bishnoi, Punjab Police’s Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) in a joint operation with Bathinda Police arrested their two close associates, when they were attempting to escape to Haryana via village Pathrala in Bathinda, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Tuesday.

This is another addition in the list of achievements in the ongoing war against gangsters waged by Punjab Police on the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

Those arrested have been identified as Malkit Singh alias Kitta of village Bhaini in Bathinda and Hardeep Singh alias Mamma of village Aaklia Jalal in Bathinda. Both the accused persons are history-sheeters and wanted by Punjab Police in several cases of heinous crimes.

The Police have also recovered seven pistols (six .32 bores and one .30 bore) along with ammunition and a Police Uniform of an ASI Rank from their possession besides impounding their motorcycle using which they were trying to escape.

The development came just a few days after the AGTF had neutralized two killers of Punjabi Singer Sidhu Moosewala during an encounter in Bhakna village of Amritsar. Pertinently, Goldy Brar, currently residing in Canada is a mastermind in Sidhu Moosewala murder case.

Divulging details, DGP Gaurav Yadav said that following a reliable input about two associates of Goldy Brar carrying a large number of weapons trying to escape the state on a motorcycle, the AGTF along with Bathinda Police laid a Nakabandi at link road of village Pathrala and nabbed both of them.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the arrested accused persons, on directions of Goldy Brar, had unsuccessfully attempted to murder a Rajasthan-based gangster Kailash Manju at Jaisalmer when he was out on bail, he said.

Apart from this, the DGP said that arrested persons had also unsuccessfully tried to kill three associates— Dagar, Fateh Nagar, and Kaunsal Chaudhary, of Gangster Sukha Duneke when Nakodar Police had brought them on production warrant in connection with Kabbadi player Sandeep Nangal Ambia murder case.

Not ruling out the connection of these two arrested persons in the Sidhu Moosewala murder case, the DGP said the police are investigating from that angle also.

Meanwhile, FIR 111 dated July 25, 2022, has been registered under sections 25 (1)A/54/59 of the Arms Act at Police Station Sangat in Bathinda, and section 171 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was enhanced in the FIR.