Bathinda: Two gangsters were shot dead and three arrested in an encounter with the Punjab Police yesterday in a village near here, officials said. They were suspected to be accomplices of Punjab's most wanted gangster, Vicky Gounder, one of the main accused in the Nabha jailbreak case in Punjab last year, police said. 

They allegedly held a person, identified as Nishan Singh, at gunpoint and drove away in his car but were intercepted at Gulabgarh on Bathinda-Talwandi Sabo road by a police team that had been chasing them, officials added. The miscreants then opened fire at the police, Inspector General of Police (Bathinda Zone) M S Chhina said, adding that three gangsters were injured in retaliatory firing and two among them, Manpreet Manna and Prabdeep, succumbed to injuries at the Bathinda Civil Hospital. 

Amritpal, Gurvinder Singh, alias Ginda, and Harwinder Singh, alias Binda, were arrested, and Amritpal was undergoing treatment, Chhina said. Police recovered a 9mm pistol, .32-bore pistol and a .315-bore pistol from them, police said, adding that a white Maruti Breeza car was recovered from the accused. This vehicle was snatched at gun point from Rajasthan.