Punjab Police on Saturday averted targeted killings in the state with the arrest of four operatives after an exchange of fire with the Jalandhar commissionerate police.

Director general of police Gaurav Yadav said in a post on his social media platform X that police also recovered six pistols following the operation.

“In a major breakthrough, Jalandhar commissionerate police averted planned target killings with the arrest of four operatives of the Prema Lahoriya -Vicky Gounder gang after an exchange of fire,” Yadav said, adding that six pistols were recovered after the encounter.

Harjinder Singh Bhullar, alias Vicky Gounder, and his aide Prema Lahoriya, were shot dead in an encounter with the police in a village near Muktsar on the Punjab-Rajasthan border in January 2018.