Four held for killing international kabaddi player in Punjab

Chandigarh: In less than a week after an international kabaddi player was shot dead, Punjab Police on Saturday claimed to have solved the high-profile murder case with the arrest of four accused and three conspirators settled in Canada and Malaysia.

Prominent Kabaddi player, Sandeep Singh, alias Sandeep Nangal Ambia, was shot dead by five assailants at a kabaddi match in Mallian village in Jalandhar district on March 14.

Those arrested have been identified as Fateh Singh of Sangrur, Kaushal Chaudhary of Naharpur Roopa in Gurugram, Amit Dagar of Maheshpur Palvan village in Haryana and Simranjeet Singh of Madhopur Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh.

All four accused persons, who are facing over 20 criminal cases mostly of murder and attempt to murder, were brought on production warrant from different jails.

The police have also nominated three main conspirators identified as Snover Dhillon, who is currently residing in Brampton in Canada and is a producer and director at Canadian Sath TV and Radio Show; Sukhwinder Singh, also residing in Canada, and Jagjit Singh, who is residing in Malaysia. They allegedly conspired to get the victim killed.

Director General of Police (DGP) V.K. Bhawra said after a thorough investigation and based on information, the Jalandhar Rural Police had brought Fateh Singh on production warrant.

He said during interrogation, Fateh disclosed that Snover Dhillon had formed the National Kabaddi Federation of Ontario and tried to convince different players to join his federation. However, most of the renowned players were associated with ‘major league kabaddi’ being managed by Sandeep, rendering Snover’s federation unsuccessful, revealed Fateh, while admitting that he had also pressurized some players to join Snover’s federation.

SSP (Jalandhar Rural) Satinder Singh said Fateh confessed that following the instructions from Snover, he along with Amit Dagar, Kaushal Chaudhary, Jagjit Singh, Lucky Patiyal and Sukha Duneke had arranged shooters for execution of Sandeep.

He said Simranjeet on the directions of Sukh Duneke had provided a hideout to the shooters at the house of his relative identified as Swaran Singh in Amritsar.

The police have recovered 18 cartridges and 12 bore rifle from Swaran’s house. Consequently, Swaran Singh, who is absconding, has also been nominated in the case.

The SSP added the shooters have been identified and would be arrested soon.