2 gangsters involved in Moosewala murder killed in encounter in Amritsar: Police

Amritsar/Chandigarh: Two gangsters allegedly involved in the killing of singer Sidhu Moosewala were killed in an encounter by the Punjab Police in Amritsar on Wednesday, an officer said.

Gangsters Jagroop Singh Roopa and Manpreet Singh alias Mannu Kusa were killed in the operation that lasted for around five hours and ended at around 4 pm, he said.

"Both have died in the exchange of fire," Additional Director General of Police Pramod Ban told reporters in Amritsar.

Ban, who heads the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) of the Punjab Police, said an AK-47 and a pistol have been recovered from the gangsters.

A bag has also been recovered but it will be examined by a forensic team, the ADGP added.

"With the help of local police, we tried to surround them at a building. They died in the exchange of fire," Ban said.

When asked about injuries to policemen, he said three of them were injured in the encounter but they were out of danger.

Roopa and Kusa were hiding at a building in Bhakna village near the India-Pakistan border in Amritsar. They were absconding after Moosewala's killing, Ban said.

Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, popularly known as Sidhu Moosewala, was shot dead in Punjab's Mansa district on May 29.

Police had identified six shooters who were part of the two modules allegedly involved in the killing.

The Special Cell of the Delhi Police had earlier nabbed three shooters -- Priyavrat Fauji, Kashish and Ankit Sirsa. Roopa and Kusa were part of the second module, police said.

It is believed that Kusa had fired at Moosewala with an AK-47 rifle. The two men were in a car that was trailing Moosewala's vehicle at Jawahar Ke village in Mansa district.

After committing the crime, they snatched another car which was later found abandoned in Moga district.