AGTF Arrests Two in Nawanshahr, Foils Planned Killing at Court Appearanceਨਵਾਂਸ਼ਹਿਰ ਵਿੱਚ AGTF ਨੇ ਦੋ ਗ੍ਰਿਫ਼ਤਾਰ ਕੀਤੇ, ਅਦਾਲਤ ਵਿੱਚ ਕਤਲ ਦੀ ਸਾਜ਼ਿਸ਼ ਨਾਕਾਮ

Punjab Police's Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF), in a joint operation with Counter Intelligence and in coordination with SBS Nagar Police, has apprehended two associates linked to a gangster network from Nawanshahr and recovered two sophisticated .30 calibre pistols along with ammunition, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said on Thursday, 22 October 2026. The names of the two men had not been released in the police statement reported on Thursday.

A killing planned for a court appearance

Preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused were in contact with foreign-based handlers and had been tasked with eliminating a rival gang member during his court appearance in SBS Nagar, the DGP said. “Their timely arrest averted a planned targeted killing,” Yadav wrote on X. Punjab Police also shared details of the operation on its official social media accounts, showing the two recovered pistols and ammunition. Arrests of this kind, made before a planned attack rather than after one, are the outcome police say the AGTF was created to deliver: disrupting gangster networks at the planning stage, before a shooting takes place in a public place such as a court complex.

Link disclosed to a Ludhiana sarpanch's murder

The arrests may also move forward an earlier case. According to the DGP, the accused have disclosed their alleged involvement in the murder of a sarpanch in Ludhiana on 3 October, revealing suspected links to a contract killing orchestrated by foreign-based handlers. Jugti reported that killing earlier this month, when a former sarpanch was shot dead in Ludhiana, a case that drew sharp political reactions over law and order in the state. Police have not yet publicly detailed what role each of the two men is alleged to have played in the October killing, and the disclosure remains an allegation under investigation, not a charge proven in court.

The foreign-handler pattern

The Nawanshahr operation is the second major Punjab Police action reported in two days built around alleged foreign-based handlers. A day earlier, Amritsar Rural Police busted a drug trafficking, illegal arms and explosives smuggling network with the arrest of seven people, including three juveniles, recovering a hand grenade, two .30 bore pistols, 29 cartridges and 3.491 kg of heroin. In that case too, police said the arrested men were in contact with foreign-based smugglers and were procuring drone-dropped heroin and illegal firearms from across the border for onward supply. Senior officers have repeatedly described the same structure in recent cases: handlers based abroad directing local associates inside Punjab by phone and social media, while weapons and drugs move across the border separately.

What happens next?

“Further investigation is underway to establish their wider criminal network and linkages,” the DGP said. The two men are expected to be produced in court and questioned on remand about the planned SBS Nagar attack, the identity of the intended target and the handlers who allegedly tasked them, and about their suspected role in the 3 October Ludhiana killing. Any link between the two cases will matter beyond these arrests: if police can establish in court that one foreign-directed network planned a fresh killing while already linked to a sarpanch's murder, it strengthens the state's case that contract killings in Punjab are being run as a single organised business rather than as isolated local crimes.

What did the AGTF recover in Nawanshahr?

Two sophisticated .30 calibre pistols along with ammunition, recovered from two associates of a gangster network apprehended in Nawanshahr in a joint AGTF, Counter Intelligence and SBS Nagar Police operation.

What killing do police say was averted?

Police say the two men had been tasked by foreign-based handlers with eliminating a rival gang member during his court appearance in SBS Nagar, and that their arrest averted the planned targeted killing.

How are the two men linked to the Ludhiana case?

According to DGP Gaurav Yadav, the accused disclosed alleged involvement in the murder of a sarpanch in Ludhiana on 3 October, which police suspect was a contract killing orchestrated by foreign-based handlers. The allegation is still under investigation.