Mohali, Dec 17: Police on Wednesday said one of the three accused in the killing of kabaddi team promoter Kanwar Digvijay Singh was shot dead during an encounter near Lalru, while efforts were underway to trace the remaining suspects.
Harbhinder Singh, alias Maddi, was killed in a gunfight with police on the Ambala-Chandigarh National Highway, officials said.
“The accused opened fire when confronted and was killed in retaliatory action,” a senior police officer said.
A police personnel, Gulab Singh, was injured during the exchange of fire. “He has been admitted to hospital and is out of danger,” the officer said.
Police said Singh was associated with foreign-based gangster Doni Bal and had a criminal record involving firing incidents in Tarn Taran.
Teams from the Punjab Anti-Gangster Task Force, the State Special Operations Cell and the local police had been pursuing the suspects since Monday night, officials said.
Mohali SSP Harmandeep Singh Hans said the operation was still ongoing. “Our focus now is to arrest the other two accused at the earliest,” he said.
Police identified the remaining suspects as Aditya Kapoor and Karan Pathak.
Kanwar Digvijay Singh was killed on Monday evening when two men approached him near a parking area in Mohali under the guise of taking a selfie and shot him in the head at point-blank range, police said.
“When bystanders attempted to stop them, the attackers fired shots in the air to create panic and fled,” an officer said.
Investigators said a social media post by the Gopi Ghanshyampuria gang later claimed responsibility for the killing, a claim police said is being verified.
