Close on the heels of busting the inter-state gang backed by Gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Harwinder Rinda, the Punjab Police arrested 13 more associates including nine sharpshooters of the gang on Thursday. The Jalandhar Rural Police chased down the accused after a two-week-long operation led by special teams.
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; Balwinder alias Billa of Kapurthala. The Police have also recovered 13 sophisticated weapons and 18 cartridges from their possession.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Headquarters Sukhchain Singh Gill said that after the arrest of 11 members of the gang on 29 June 2022, the Jalandhar Rural Police have been working on some leads to arrest the remaining associates of this gang. All the arrested persons are history-sheeters and face cases of heinous crimes in the districts including Ludhiana, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Tarn Taran, Jalandhar, Khanna, Mohali, and Patiala, he added.
He said that the group was active in most districts in Punjab for the last four years and the arrested persons had been involved in crimes including murders, armed dacoity, organized extortion and highway robbery. “After busting this gang, the Punjab Police has thwarted at least five murders and seven armed dacoities and robberies,” he added.
SSP Jalandhar Rural Swapan Sharma said that, as per preliminary investigation, this gang was being operated by Ghumma and Gopi, associated with Markas alias Massa, who took directions from Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and Lawrence Bishnoi. Massa, a resident of Ferozepur, is in jail with 18 criminal cases registered against him.
Meanwhile, The Patiala House Court on Thursday granted one-day transit remand of Lawrence Bishnoi gang shooters Ankit Sersa and Sachin Chaudhary to Punjab police in connection with the murder case of singer Sidhu Moosewala.
Chief metropolitan magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria granted the transit remand of Ankit Sersa and Sachin Chaudhary to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Mansa Police for investigating the murder. They will be produced before Mansa court on Friday.
Punjab police, while seeking permission to arrest the accused persons, submitted that these two accused directly participated in the murder of Moosewala. Their arrest warrant has been issued by Mansa Court and custody is required for its further investigation.
Advocate Vishal Chopra raised the issue of the safety and security of the accused persons.
The Punjab Police submitted that it has taken appropriate measures for the security of the accused persons during transit remand. After hearing the submission, the court granted permission to arrest the accused in court and thereafter granted one-day transit remand in the case.
