Kabaddi player's murder Punjab Police arrests 2 shooters from West Bengal

Chandigarh, Jan 12 (PTI) The Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) of Punjab Police has arrested two shooters and an accomplice in connection with the murder of Kabaddi player-cum-promoter Kanwar Digvijay Singh alias Rana Balachauria from Howrah in West Bengal, Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav said on Monday.
     In the culmination of an intelligence-based operation spanning Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal and Sikkim, the accused were arrested with the help of Sikkim Police, Mumbai police, West Bengal STF, local Howrah police, and central agencies, officials said.
     Those arrested have been identified as Karan Pathak alias Karan Defaulter, a resident of Amritsar; Tarandeep Singh, a resident of Barhewal in Ludhiana; and Akashdeep, a resident of Upala in Tarn Taran.
     With this, five accused have been arrested so far in the case.
     Rana Balachauria (30) was shot dead by assailants during a Kabaddi tournament at Sohana in Mohali on December 15, 2025.
     DGP Yadav said that Karan and Tarandeep are shooters, while Akashdeep, a close relative of foreign-based handler Amar Khabe Rajputa, allegedly provided shelter and logistic support to the shooters.
     All arrested persons are being brought to Punjab for further investigation, he added.
     The DGP said that efforts are ongoing to identify and apprehend remaining associates to completely unravel the case.
     Sharing operational details, Deputy Inspector General of AGTF Gurmeet Singh Chauhan said that through extensive CCTV footage analysis, AGTF and Mohali police reconstructed the pre and post-offence movements of the accused, identified vehicles used, and traced the escape route up to Panipat Toll Plaza.
     The DIG said that following the trail of digital footprints of accused persons who travelled to Mumbai, Bengaluru, Siliguri, Gangtok and Kolkata, they were arrested from Howrah by the AGTF team led by DSP Rajan Parminder.
     Both the arrested shooters have a criminal background, he said.
     Two days after the murder, an accused in the case was killed in an encounter with the police in Lalru in Mohali while two police personnel were injured in that incident.
     Harpinder alias Middu, a resident of Naushehra Pannuan in Punjab's Tarn Taran district, was injured in an exchange of fire and later succumbed to injuries in hospital, police had earlier said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)