Punjab Encounter: AK-47, Ammunition, Opioids Seized From Sidhu Moose Wala Killers

A senior Punjab Police official said the shooters, Manpreet Manu and Jagdeep Rupa, were hired by jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.

Punjab Police personnel at the site of the encounter in which two gangsters were killed ( Image Source :PTI )

New Delhi: A day after two gangsters allegedly involved in the murder of singer Sidhu Moose Wala were killed in an encounter with Punjab Police, a bag containing ammunition, clothes, a broken phone, and some pharma opioids were seized from the spot, IANS reported.

A senior Punjab Police official said the shooters, Manpreet Manu and Jagdeep Rupa, were hired by jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. Police has said Bishnoi was the mastermind behind Moose Wala's killing and the plan was hatched in August last year to avenge the murder of Vicky Middukhera.

He said no document was recovered from the scene to establish their identity. The official said there was no proof so far to establish that the sharpshooters were planning to cross over to Pakistan, IANS rpeorted. 

Manpreet Manu and Jagdeep Rupa, believed to be members of the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang, were shot dead in a five-hour-long encounter with Punjab Police near the India-Pakistan border in Amritsar district on Wednesday.

The gangsters had taken shelter in an abandoned house near Bhakna village, about 14 km from the border, when the police killed them. Three policemen suffered bullet injuries in the encounter.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detective) Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar told reporters that both the gangsters were dropped by a vehicle at the crime scene on Wednesday, IANS reported. "Our teams are investigating who was behind dropping them (at a farmhouse)," IANS quoted Bhullar as saying.

"An AK-47 loaded with 31 cartridges and two pistols were recovered. The police have given enough opportunity to the gangsters to surrender. When they opened fire at the police, both were killed in exchange of firing," he said.

The bodies of the slain gangsters were sent to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital in Amritsar for a post-mortem examination.