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 are history-sheeters and wanted by the Punjab Police in several cases of heinous crimes.

The Punjab Police’s Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF), in a joint operation with Bathinda Police, arrested two close associates of   Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar on Tuesday. Brar is believed to be one of the main conspirators in Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala’s murder.

Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav said both the gangsters were arrested when they were attempting to escape to Haryana via village Pathrala in Bathinda.

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 are history-sheeters and wanted by the 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 assistant sub-inspector rank from their possession and impounded their motorcycle on which they were trying to escape.

The development came barely a few days after the AGTF neutralised two killers of Sidhu Moosewala in an encounter in Bhakna village of Amritsar.

The DGP said following a reliable input about the duo carrying a large number of weapons trying to escape the state on a motorcycle, the AGTF, along with the Bathinda Police, laid a Nakabandi at the link road of village Pathrala and nabbed both of them.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the arrested accused, on the directions of Goldy Brar, had 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 the Nakodar Police 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 working on the angle too.

Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, alias Sidhu Moosewala, was shot dead in his SUV near his village Moosa in Punjab’s Mansa district on 29 May.  A day after Moosewala was murdered, Goldy Brar had admitted in a Facebook post that he planned it to avenge the killing of another gangster.

Goldy Brar is a close aide of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who is the chief suspect in the Punjabi rapper’s murder.