Punjab Police held two shooters backed by foreign handlers from Lucknow

Chandigarh, Oct 29 (IANS) In a significant breakthrough against organised crime, Punjab Police’s Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) in a joint operation with Uttar Pradesh Police has apprehended two shooters backed by foreign handlers from Lucknow, both wanted in separate sensational murder cases in Punjab, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Tuesday.

The arrested accused identified as Bikramjit, alias Vicky, of Sur Singh village in Tarn Taran and Punjab Singh of Sandhra village in Tarn Taran, were residing in the same rented accommodation provided by their foreign handlers in Lucknow.

DGP Yadav said arrested accused Vicky was involved in the murder of Gopi Chohla, who was shot dead in Taran Tarn on March 1, while Punjab Singh is a key accused in the broad-daylight triple murder case of Dildeep Singh and two of his relatives at Ferozepur in September.

As per the information, on September 3 at around 12.50 pm Dildeep Singh, Anmolpreet Singh, Jaspreet Kaur, Akashdeep and Harpreet were travelling in a car near Gurdwara Shri Akalgarh Sahib, Kamboj Nagar, Ferozepur City, when six assailants opened the fire. In this incident, Dildeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh and their sister Jaspreet Kaur were killed, and two others, Anmolpreet Singh and Harpreet Singh, were injured.

Notably, Punjab Police had already arrested six other accused in a triple case within seven days of the incident from Aurangabad in Maharashtra, while Punjab Singh was absconding.

The DGP said both the arrested accused have criminal histories with accused Vicky has been facing 12 criminal cases pertaining to murder, robbery and NDPS act offences, while accused Punjab Singh has four criminal cases pertaining to murder, NDPS act, Arms Act and Rape registered against him. Police teams have also impounded a white-coloured Hyundai Alcazar, in which they were travelling, he added.

He said the recovery of weapons used in both crimes is expected in the coming days. Further investigations are on to establish their backward and forward linkages, he added.

Sharing operational details, ADGP Promod Ban said information based on human intelligence was received about possible hideouts and vehicle details of two shooters roaming in Lucknow district in Uttar Pradesh.

Acting swiftly, teams of AGTF under the supervision of AIG Sandeep Goel shared the information with Lucknow Police, and joint teams of AGTF led by DSP Bikramjit Brar and Inspector Pushwinder Singh along with Lucknow Police arrested the duo from Indira Nagar in Lucknow, he added.