Amidst the ongoing drive to destroy the organised criminal networks in the state as per directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) of the Punjab Police have arrested Lawrence Bishnoi’s close aide Mandeep Singh alias Chotta Mani of Chandigarh, who had provided hideouts to accused persons involved in Sidhu Moosewala’s murder and facilitated escape of Gangster Deepak Tinu in 2017, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Saturday.

Accused Chotta Mani was arrested along with his accomplice identified as Jatinder Singh of Gobindpura Mohalla in Manimajra. Police teams have also recovered two .32 caliber pistols along with 12 live cartridges from their possession.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that following reliable inputs about presence of Chotta Mani in the area of Zirakpur, teams of AGTF headed by ADGP Promod Ban under the supervision of AIG Sandeep Goel and led by DSP Bikram Brar, managed to track the location of the accused and arrested him along with his accomplice.

He said that both the accused were actively working for Lawrence Bishnoi & Goldy Brar Gang, and have a criminal history with several criminal cases pertaining to Attempt to Murder, Extortion, Robbery and under Arms Act were registered against them in Chandigarh and Haryana. Preliminary investigation has also revealed that the arrested accused were tasked to carry out target killings of rival gangsters by their foreign-based handlers, he added.

Sharing more detail, AIG Sandeep Goel said that in 2022, accused Chotta Mani along with his other associates Sachin Thapan, Deepak Mundi and Joginder Joga— all shooters and accused involved in Sidhu Moosewala murder, were directed by foreign handlers to commit sensational crime on directions of Ayodhya based politician Vikas Singh, who was later arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA) in November 2023.

He said that Lawrence Bishnoi wanted to settle Chotta Mani abroad and also sent him to Dubai thrice to facilitate his safe entry to Europe, but failed due to which the latter had to return back to India.

A case FIR no 4 has been registered under section 25 of the Arms Act at Police Station State Crime, SAS Nagar.