3 shooters working for gangster Sonu Khatri held while planning to flee country: Punjab Police

Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGFT) of Punjab Police in coordination with central agencies have arrested three absconding shooters working for gangster Sonu Khatri while they were trying to flee the country, a senior official said on Friday.

Punjab's Director General of Police, Gaurav Yadav on X said one person has been arrested from the Indo-Nepal border and two from Haryana's Gurugram.

“In a pan-India operation, AGTF-Punjab in coordination with central agencies has successfully arrested 3 absconding shooters handled by gangster Sonu Khatri, a close associate of terrorist Harvinder Rinda," Yadav posted on X.

"Preliminary investigations reveal that arrested accused used to commit sensational crimes in the state of Punjab on the directions of Sonu Khatri and after committing the crime took refuge in hideouts located in different parts of the country and Nepal," he said.

The DGP, in a statement, said the shooters have been identified as Sukhmanjot Singh alias Sukhman Brar, Jaskaran Singh alias Jassi Lodhipur and Jograj Singh alias Joga, all Jalandhar residents.

Police teams have also recovered three foreign-made sophisticated pistols of .32 bore from their possession, he added.

"In an intelligence-led operation, Police teams from AGTF Punjab under the overall supervision of ADGP Promod Ban have nabbed accused Sukhman Brar from Indo-Nepal Border, while he was attempting to escape to Nepal, and other two were arrested from Gurugram, Haryana," the DGP said.

The three arrested shooters were planning to prepare fake passports to escape to another country from Nepal’s Kathmandu, he said.

Yadav said the trio is involved in at least five murder cases, besides, five cases of other heinous crimes, including attempt to murder, the Arms Act, carjacking and extortion.

"They were also involved in a broad day-light shootout at Metro Plaza in Zirakpur earlier this year," he added.

Additional IG Sandeep Goel, who was leading the operation, said preliminary investigations have revealed that the arrested trio used to commit sensational crimes in Punjab on the directions of gangster Sonu Khatri, and after committing the crime they used to take refuge in hideouts located in different parts of the country and Nepal.

"It has also been revealed that hideouts were arranged by foreign handler Sonu Khatri, who also used to pay the shooters on a regular basis via Hawala transactions," he said while adding that further investigations are on.