In Punjab, kabaddi turf emerges as gang war arena
From village pride to gang war turf, Punjab’s traditional sport is in the grip of a deadly nexus of money, muscle and organised crime
Once celebrated as Punjab’s pride and a symbol of rural strength, circle style kabaddi has turned into a bloody battleground in the state, its arena increasingly washed red by killings.
At least five kabaddi players and promoters have been killed in the past three years, exposing how the traditional sport has become deeply entangled with gang rivalries, money power and organised crime.
The latest killing — that of kabaddi promoter Kanwar Digvijay Singh, widely known as Rana Balachauria, who was shot dead during a live tournament in Mohali — has sent fresh shockwaves across Punjab. It was the third murder linked to kabaddi this year, underlining the alarming rise in violence around the sport.
There is no exact data available with the police, but at least 10 killings linked with Kabaddi have happened in Punjab over the past decade.
In October-November, Punjab witnessed two killings of kabaddi players within a span of days.
On November 3, Gurwinder Singh, a kabaddi player, was shot dead in the Samrala block of Ludhiana district, with the notorious Lawrence Bishnoi gang claiming responsibility.
According to police, the murder was executed by Karan Madpur and Tej Chak, while the responsibility was claimed by Hari Boxer and Arzoo Bishnoi through a social media post issued from a handle bearing the name of Anmol Bishnoi, brother of Lawrence Bishnoi.
The post not only claimed the killing but also issued an open threat: “This is a warning for whoever sides with our enemies. Either mend your ways or be ready for the next bullet to pierce your chest,” it read. “Either step back, or we know how to wipe you out.”
Just three days earlier, on October 31, national-level kabaddi player Tejpal Singh, 25, was brutally assaulted and then shot in the chest in Ludhiana district’s Jagraon.
In this case, however, police concluded an old rivalry as the motive, with no involvement of a gang. Within a week, police arrested three accused, Gagandeep Singh, Harpreet Singh, alias Honey, and Harjobanpreet Singh, alias Kala.
On March 14, 2022, a noted player Sandeep Nangal Ambian was gunned down in broad daylight by assailants during a kabaddi match at Mallian Khurd village in Jalandhar due to a rivalry between kabaddi associations over international and national kabaddi leagues.
The infamous Davinder Bambiha gang took responsibility for the killing, following which the police had arrested sharpshooters hired from Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
In the brutal killing of Balachauria, too, the Bambiha gang has taken responsibility, terming it revenge for the murder of Punjab singer Sidhu Moose Wala by rival Lawrence Bishnoi and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang.
The Mohali police, however, have set aside the gang’s claim, concluding that the firing has nothing to do with the singer’s murder, and is instead a bid to assert dominance in kabaddi tournaments.
“However, what’s common is that both Nangal Ambian and Balachauria were assumed to be close to Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, who has very high stakes in kabaddi. The exact dynamics will be revealed as probe proceeds,” a senior officer of the Punjab Police, who is also part of the probe in Balachauria’s case, said.
A symbol of money and influence
Police officials say kabaddi’s transformation from a sport into a high-stakes symbol of power and influence has played a critical role in this violence.
“With kabaddi becoming a symbol of money and influence in Punjab, it has been infiltrated by gangsters and the drug mafia,” said a senior police officer who has served as an SSP in the Doaba region. “Its popularity among Punjabis settled in Canada, the UK and Australia has brought in huge amounts of unaccounted money.”
According to police sources, kabaddi tournaments abroad and in Punjab are often funded by NRIs, with teams being paid in foreign currency. “Kabaddi has become a big business and some gangsters have made inroads into this business to feel the power and earn money. Such is the scenario that whenever any big tournament happens on foreign soil, the gangsters call the organisers to dictate which player will or will not be part of the team,” an officer posted in the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) shared.
Another senior officer revealed that in many cases it had been found that any organiser not following the gangsters’ diktats is threatened, often with firing outside their houses.
Recently, there were reports of firing outside the house of a kabaddi promoter in New Zealand as well close to a kabaddi tournament.
Moose Wala-Bishnoi rivalry sparked at kabaddi meet in Mohali
The dangerous intersection of kabaddi and gang wars came into sharp focus during the investigation into the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala.
Punjab Police say the gang rivalry that culminated in Moose Wala’s killing in May 2022 was triggered by a kabaddi tournament held in Bhago Majra village near Kharar in Mohali district in February 2020.
The tournament was organised by youths linked to the Davinder Bambiha gang, staunch rivals of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
Police officials probing the Moose Wala case revealed that Bishnoi had warned the singer against attending the event, as it was associated with rival gang members Lucky Patial and his aide Mandeep Dhaliwal.
Despite the warning, Moose Wala did not back down, reportedly deepening tensions. He was eventually shot dead on May 29, 2022, in Jawahar Ke village of Mansa district, allegedly by Lawrence Bishnoi and his associate Goldy Brar.
The Bhago Majra kabaddi tournament has since been repeatedly cited by investigators — and even acknowledged by Goldy Brar in the BBC documentary, The Killing Call — as the flashpoint that escalated the rivalry.
As violence continues to stalk kabaddi grounds, Punjab’s traditional sport stands overshadowed by guns, gang threats and bloodshed, raising troubling questions about whether the state can reclaim kabaddi from the grip of organised crime.
