BHAKNA KALAN (Amritsar): Fifty-two days after the singer-rapper was killed in broad daylight Sidhu Moose none Near his house in Mansa district, Punjab Two sharpshooters involved in the crime were shot dead by a police team on Wednesday during a four-and-a-half-hour-long encounter in a village near Attari on the India-Pakistan border.
Three policemen involved in the operation to trace Jagroop Police said Singh Roopa and Manpreet Singh, alias Manu Kusa, were injured in a shootout with an unidentified journalist who was pursuing the story. They are all out of danger.
Additional DGP and Anti-Gangster Task Force chief Pramod Ban said that since Monday morning several police teams were chasing the two gangsters. The encounter started after miscreants hiding in a deserted building in Amritsar district’s Bhakna Kalan village.
A team of rural police cordoned off the area, while an anti-gangster task force and a police team from Moose Wala’s native Mansa fought the fugitive duo between them, declaring their surrender through the PA system. The ADGP said Jagroop and Manpreet continued to fire at the advancing policemen until both were fatally shot in retaliation.
An AK-47 rifle, a pistol and ammunition were recovered from the hiding place of the two killed.
Villagers working in the fields said they had seen the gangsters entering Bhakna Kalan on foot and running into the abandoned building of a local dairy owner, prompting the arrival of security personnel.
A total of 21 people have been arrested so far in connection with Moose Wala’s murder, the ADGP said, but the two sharpshooters chased the police in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan for more than seven weeks, after which they were not traced. Manpreet is believed to have fired the first shot at Moose Wala on 29 May.
Intelligence agencies said that the fugitive sharpshooters may have planned to cross the international border after lying down for some time. “We have reason to believe that they tried to obtain fake passports. They were probably in contact with someone based in Pakistan. Sikh Terrorists who with the help of Pakistan Rangers would have assured them of safe passage through the international border.”
The police denied that the gangsters were trying to flee the country.
Jagroop’s father Balwinder Singh refused to accept his son’s body in his native village Jaura, sources said.
There was no collateral damage in Wednesday’s encounter as the police had asked residents to stay indoors till the operation was over. The ADGP said that the Punjab Police ensured that all the directions issued by the courts and the National Human Rights Commission regarding action against the perpetrators during the encounter were followed. With a reporter injured during the operation, the ADGP urged the media to first ensure the safety of its personnel during such assignments.
He said that all the policemen involved in the effort to trace the gangsters would be rewarded.
Three policemen involved in the operation to trace Jagroop Police said Singh Roopa and Manpreet Singh, alias Manu Kusa, were injured in a shootout with an unidentified journalist who was pursuing the story. They are all out of danger.
Additional DGP and Anti-Gangster Task Force chief Pramod Ban said that since Monday morning several police teams were chasing the two gangsters. The encounter started after miscreants hiding in a deserted building in Amritsar district’s Bhakna Kalan village.
A team of rural police cordoned off the area, while an anti-gangster task force and a police team from Moose Wala’s native Mansa fought the fugitive duo between them, declaring their surrender through the PA system. The ADGP said Jagroop and Manpreet continued to fire at the advancing policemen until both were fatally shot in retaliation.
An AK-47 rifle, a pistol and ammunition were recovered from the hiding place of the two killed.
Villagers working in the fields said they had seen the gangsters entering Bhakna Kalan on foot and running into the abandoned building of a local dairy owner, prompting the arrival of security personnel.
A total of 21 people have been arrested so far in connection with Moose Wala’s murder, the ADGP said, but the two sharpshooters chased the police in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan for more than seven weeks, after which they were not traced. Manpreet is believed to have fired the first shot at Moose Wala on 29 May.
Intelligence agencies said that the fugitive sharpshooters may have planned to cross the international border after lying down for some time. “We have reason to believe that they tried to obtain fake passports. They were probably in contact with someone based in Pakistan. Sikh Terrorists who with the help of Pakistan Rangers would have assured them of safe passage through the international border.”
The police denied that the gangsters were trying to flee the country.
Jagroop’s father Balwinder Singh refused to accept his son’s body in his native village Jaura, sources said.
There was no collateral damage in Wednesday’s encounter as the police had asked residents to stay indoors till the operation was over. The ADGP said that the Punjab Police ensured that all the directions issued by the courts and the National Human Rights Commission regarding action against the perpetrators during the encounter were followed. With a reporter injured during the operation, the ADGP urged the media to first ensure the safety of its personnel during such assignments.
He said that all the policemen involved in the effort to trace the gangsters would be rewarded.