Chandigarh, Sep 14 : Punjab Police have arrested seven operatives of the Ankush Bhaya gang, including the lynchpin Ankush Sabharwal, exposing links to major US-based criminal syndicates, including Goldy Brar, Vikram Brar and Ravi Balachoria, said Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Saturday.





Other members arrested have been identified as Pankaj Sabharwal, Vishal Sabharwal, Harmanpreet Singh, Jaskaran Singh Purewal, Ariyan Singh and Rupesh Kumar.



Police have also nominated two more gang members -- Karan Sabharwal and Dalbir Singh, while another member Dibu is wanted in connection with the case.



Police teams have also recovered four pistols, including two .30 bore pistols, one .32 bore pistol and one .315 bore country-made pistol along with seven cartridges, besides 1,000 Alprazolam tablets from their possession.



DGP Yadav said in a related development, police teams have arrested police constable Aryan Singh Shipai for conniving with the gang and leaking sensitive information to the gang.



Aryan had been absent from duty for 1.5 months and was involved in revealing secret details of police operations and providing logistics support to the gangsters, he added.



He said the preliminary investigation has found that kingpin Ankush Bhaya was in frequent touch with foreign-based organised criminal Lovepreet Singh, alias Ladi, and jailed gangster Ravi Balachoria.



The DGP said with the arrest of members of this module the Jalandhar Rural Police has averted possible attacks on rival criminals in Hoshiarpur, Mehatpur and Nakodar and a bank robbery conspired by the gang.



Sharing operation details, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP, Jalandhar Rural) Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh said that based on a credible tip-off, police teams set up a checkpoint in Nakodar, where they intercepted a car. During checking, police teams found occupants heavily armed and in possession of intoxicant tablets, he added.



He said the entire operation was led by the Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Jasroop Kaur Batth with two police teams headed by Pushap Bali and Sanjeev Kapoor, under the supervision of Lakhvir Singh.



The SSP said on the disclosure of the accused, police teams have also arrested the car owner, Rupesh, who also provided logistical support to the gang, including safe houses and weapon storage.



/IANS