Chandigarh, Oct 11 (PTI) Punjab Police on Tuesday said they have arrested three people who were allegedly involved in facilitating gangster Deepak Tinu's escape from police custody in Mansa recently.

Police have also recovered a car bearing a Punjab registration number, which was used in the crime, from their possession, police said.

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Tinu, one of the accused in singer Sidhu Moosewala's murder, escaped from the custody of the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) unit of the Mansa police on the intervening night of October 1 and 2.

"Those arrested have been identified as Kuldeep Singh alias Kohli, Rajveer Singh alias Kazama and Rajinder Singh alias Gora, all residents of Ludhiana. Kuldeep Kohli is a gym owner and was into the business of drugs under the garb of running a gym," said a Punjab Police statement.

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The statement, quoting Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav, said an ongoing investigation revealed that the three accused people were close associates of Tinu and had helped him escape from police custody, following which the Anti Gangster Task Force (AGTF) and Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Punjab Police have arrested them from Ludhiana on Tuesday.

The DGP said the investigations revealed that on October 1, Tinu had directed Kohli to send a woman associate, who helped in the gangster's escape along with his allies at CIA Mansa.

Rajveer Singh along with his accomplice Gagandeep Khaira of Ludhiana picked up a woman accomplice from Zirakpur and dropped her near CIA Mansa along with a bag of clothes provided by Kohli, he said, adding that the Police teams are on a manhunt to nab Gagandeep.

The DGP said Kohli was associated with Tinu for the last two years after coming in touch with him while being lodged at the Kapurthala jail. Kohli was released on bail in 2021, following which he, along with Tinu's other Haryana-based associates, indulged in cross-border drug smuggling, he said.

Meanwhile, the four-member SIT headed by Inspector General of Police (IGP) Patiala range M S Chhina is conducting a day-to-day investigation into the case and all the culprits involved in this crime will be arrested soon, said the statement.

A day after the arrest of Tinu's alleged girlfriend from the Mumbai airport, the Punjab Police had on Monday said there is no evidence which suggests that the gangster has fled the country and also said his woman companion's questioning will help in tracing him.

Tinu's alleged girlfriend was nabbed by a team of the anti-gangster task force (AGTF) of the Punjab Police from the Mumbai airport on Sunday. She was allegedly trying to flee to the Maldives.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)