Two suspected shooters accused of killing a kabaddi player and promoter of the sport in Punjab last month were arrested in Howrah on Monday, along with a third man also wanted in the case.

The trio, identified as Karan Pathak, 21, Tarandeep Singh, 25, and Akashdeep Singh, 21, had stayed in a hotel in New Market for a few days in the first week of January before moving to Gangtok via Siliguri. They returned to Calcutta on Monday and were about to board a train from Howrah station when the special task force (STF) of Kolkata Police, in coordination with Howrah Police, arrested them. The suspects were later handed over to Punjab Police.

Sources said the accused had been hiding at various locations across India before entering Bengal. “In the culmination of an intelligence-based operation spanning Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bengal, and Sikkim, a team of the Punjab Police Anti-Gangster Task Force has arrested two shooters involved in the murder of kabaddi promoter Rana Balachauria,” Punjab Police said in a statement.

“The accused shooters — Karan Pathak and Tarandeep Singh — were arrested today (Monday) from Howrah, with the assistance of Sikkim Police, Mumbai Police, STF in Bengal, central agencies and the local Howrah Police…. In addition, Akash, a close relative of foreign-based handler Amar Khabe Rajputa, has also been apprehended,” it added.

Kanwar Digvijay Singh alias Rana Balachauria, 30, a kabaddi player-cum-promoter, was shot dead during a kabaddi tournament at Sohana in SAS Nagar district of Punjab on December 15. Two men approached him under the pretext of taking a selfie and opened fire. Balachauria had married less than two weeks before the assassination.

Soon after the killing, a gang claimed responsibility on social media, alleging the murder was “to avenge Sidhu Moose Wala’s murder”.

Unconfirmed reports suggest the shooters may belong to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, though senior Punjab Police officers said all possible connections are being verified.

The trio were produced before a court on Monday and remanded in Punjab Police custody for three days on a transit remand.

This is not the first instance of criminals accused of deadly crimes finding refuge in Calcutta or its outskirts. In October 2025, four men wanted for the murder of Rajasthan businessman Ramesh Rulania in Kuchaman were arrested in the city. Earlier last year, suspects in the killing of gangster Chandan Mishra in Paras Hospital, Patna, were found hiding in a guesthouse in Anandapur.

In 2021, a dreaded criminal from Punjab and his associate were staying in an apartment in New Town’s Shukhobrishti complex before being killed in a gun battle with Bengal Police’s STF.