Thirteen criminals, who planned to commit murders of “prominent” persons of Punjab, were arrested, said a senior police official on Thursday, 14 July.
The criminals, including nine sharpshooters, were backed by gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Harvinder Rinda, the official said.
They were chased down by the Jalandhar (rural) police after a two-week-long operation led by special teams, said Inspector General of Police Sukhchain Singh Gill while addressing the media here.
Police also recovered 13 sophisticated weapons, including two foreign-made, along with 18 cartridges from their possession, said Gill.
On 29 June, 11 people involved in heinous crimes and backed by Bishnoi and Rinda were arrested. Gill said that since their arrest, the Jalandhar police have been working on some leads to arrest the remaining associates of their gang.
All the arrested persons are history-sheeters and are facing cases of heinous crime in the districts, including Ludhiana, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Tarn Taran, Jalandhar, Khanna, Mohali, and Patiala, added Gill.
He said the group had been active in most districts in Punjab for the past four years and the arrested persons had been involved in crimes, including murders, armed dacoity, organised extortion, and highway robbery.
“After busting this gang, the Punjab Police thwarted at least five murders and seven armed dacoities and robberies,” claimed Gill.
Asked whether any high-profile person or any politician was their target, Gill refused to reveal.
“Their targets were prominent persons, but we cannot disclose their names. They (prominent persons) belong to Punjab only,” said Gill.
“It is not right to disclose a person's name and area from the security point of view,” said Gill.
He further said that these criminals had also planned to eliminate some persons from their arch-rivals Bambiha-Gounder gang and Bambiha-Pinda gang.
‘Had Planned To Carry Out Dacoity’: Police
They had also planned to carry out dacoity in Amritsar, Ludhiana, and Ferozepur, looting a petrol pump in Kapurthala and three toll plazas, said Gill.
Those arrested have been identified as Avtar alias Mangal, Jobanpreet, Akashdeep, Harpreet alias Kaka, Arashdeep, Lovjit, and Resham alias Bao, all residents of Tarn Taran, Gurpreet alias Ghumma Shooter, Bobby alias Baba and Sonu alias Pula of Ferozepur, Gurpreet alias Gopi and Harman Kalsi of Jalandhar and Balwinder alias Billa of Kapurthala, said police.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Jalandhar Rural) Swapan Sharma said as per-preliminary investigation, this gang was being operated by Ghumma and Gopi, associated with Markas alias Massa, who has been taking directions from Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and Lawrence Bishnoi. Massa, a resident of Ferozepur, is in jail with 18 criminal cases registered against him.
Meanwhile, the police are now working to identify and nab those persons who had provided harbours, financial, and logistic support to the accused persons, besides arresting arms suppliers from Madhya Pradesh.
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