Punjab Police arrest two associates of foreign-based gangster Arsh Dala

Chandigarh, May 21 (IANS) In a major breakthrough, Punjab Police’s Anti Gangster Task Force (AGTF) in a joint operation with Faridkot Police have arrested two associates of foreign-based gangster Arsh Dala, said Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Wednesday.

Those arrested have been identified as Vishal Singh, a resident of Sri Muktsar Sahib, and Onkar Singh, a resident of village Gamewala in Ferozepur.

Police teams have also recovered two .30 bore pistols along with six cartridges from their possession.

DGP Yadav said that preliminary investigation revealed that the accused Vishal Singh, who came out on bail recently, was actively planning to eliminate his rival gang member.

The accused was continuously in touch with his foreign-based handlers and waiting for the directions to execute sensational crime in Punjab, he said.

The DGP said that further investigation is underway to identify other associates and establish backward and forward linkages in this case.

Sharing operation details, Additional Director General of Police (AGTF) Promod Ban said that the teams of the AGTF led by DSP Rajan Parminder, acting on human and intelligence inputs, located the accused persons in the jurisdiction of Faridkot.

In a joint operation, Faridkot Police have arrested both the accused from near Dana Mandi chownk in Sadiq and recovered weapons from their possession.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Pragya Jain said that both the arrested persons have a criminal background with cases pertaining to attempt to murder, cheating, under Arms Act, etc., have been registered against them.

Earlier, the police have busted a Pakistan's ISI-backed Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terror module, being operated by foreign-based handlers Maninder Billa and Mannu Agwan, on directions of terrorist Harwinder Singh Rinda with the arrest of its six members involved in attempted grenade attack outside a liquor vend in Batala town.

As per information, some bike-borne youth had lobbed a hand grenade outside a liquor vend in the Focal Point area of Batala on May 17, which failed to explode due to faulty assembly, preventing any untoward incident.

--IANS

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