Punjab gangsters who killed kabaddi player nabbed near Howrah station

KOLKATA/HOWRAH: The Kolkata Police Special Task Force, with help from Golabari Police under Howrah City Police, arrested three members of Punjab's Bambiha gang from a hotel near Howrah station, less than a month after they allegedly gunned down a kabaddi player and promoter of the game in Mohali. Kanwar Digvijay Singh, alias Rana Balachauria, was killed on Dec 15 while a tournament was going on.

The accused were identified as Karan Pathak (21), Tarandeep Singh (25) and Akashdeep Singh (21) from Punjab. Police said two of them were sharpshooters and one was an informer.


According to STF sources, all three accused were directly involved in the player's murder.

"They murdered Balachauria and kept changing their hideouts in India. They arrived in Kolkata and we got alerted by Punjab Police. However, they slipped away to Gangtok. We kept chasing them and realised they had returned to the city. We tracked them to Howrah station and Golabari cops nabbed them," said a source at Lalbazar.

A senior officer from the Howrah City Police said, "They will be presented in court. Punjab Police has been informed and will take them on transit remand."

Police said the trio was involved in various criminal activities.

Right after the murder, the gang claimed the hit on social media, calling it a revenge strike linked to the 2022 killing of singer Sidhu Moose Wala and executed by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. But Punjab cops claimed it was a story of gangster rivalry and a fight to control the kabaddi industry, estimated to be around Rs 1,000 crore around the world.

The Bambiha gang traced its origins to kabaddi, with its former leader Davinder Singh Sidhu once known as a popular player in Punjab. Police records said Sidhu, a resident of Bambiha village in Moga district, was arrested in a murder case and later sentenced to prison. Investigators alleged that while incarcerated, he came in contact with multiple gangsters, received training, and was given the moniker "Bambiha".

Authorities said his prison links helped him transition into organised crime and eventually lead the group that came to be known as the Bambiha gang. In 2016, Punjab Police said Sidhu was killed in an encounter, but those he trained continued his "legacy".

The city's brush with inter-state criminals is not new. "Back in 2021, in a daring operation led by Bengal STF along with Punjab Police, gangster Jaipal Singh Bhullar from Punjab and his associate Jaspreet Singh, alias Jassi Kharar, were found hiding inside the Shukhobrishti housing complex in New Town. They were gunned down."