Three gangsters held in Sangrur

PATIALA: Police have claimed to have arrested three gangsters after a “brief encounter” near Longowal, in Sangrur district, on Friday.

The three allegedly include killers of Harkirat Singh, 50, husband of Manpreet Kaur, a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) sarpanch from Mubarakpur Chungan village.

Accused Harpreet Singh alias Happy, Gurdarshan Singh, and Mandee Singh are residents of Bugaran village in Sangrur district. Police claim to have recovered three weapons, including a .12 bore gun, that they claim was used to kill Harkirat, along with two .315 pistols and a car. The accused had allegedly stolen the car from Dhanaula in Barnala district.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu claimed that with the arrest of the trio, police have solved two murder cases, an attempt to murder case and some snatching incidents.

On October 30, Harkirat, was murdered in broad daylight, allegedly due to an old enmity, when he was going to a school in Burj village near Malerkotla in Sangrur district. He was a teachers’ union leader.

On Friday, police set up a nakka on the Mander Kalan-Longowal Road. They said the accused rammed their car into a police vehicle standing along the road and also fired two shots at the cops. However, the police managed to overpower them.

Police also claim that during interrogation, the accused confessed their crimes. They allegedly said that after stealing the car from Dhanaula on November 4, they murdered Sukhdeep Khan of Faffde Bhai Ke in Mansa district on November 7 due to an old enmity. A case regarding this has already been registered.