Noose tightens: Eight gangsters killed, 26 held in a year by Punjab Police

The region has become the epicentre of activities of these gangs, reflected in the fact that all the gangsters killed or arrested, barring two — one each from Ludhiana and Jalandhar, are from the districts in the region, including Bathinda, Muktsar, Fazilka, Faridkot, Ferozepur and Moga.

With the Punjab police gunning down the state’s most wanted gangster Harjinder Singh alias Vicky Gounder and two of his aides, the police appear to have tightened the noose around the gangs of Malwa region.

Punjab DGP Suresh Arora(HT File)

As many as eight gangsters have been eliminated by the police in encounters while 26 have been arrested so far in the Bathinda zone after the formation of the Congress government in March last year.

Top five on wanted list

Jaipal Singh: He leads the gang that Vicky Gounder, killed on Friday, belonged to. in one of his marquee moved, he reportedly killed gangster-politician Jaswinder Singh Rocky and declared it on Facebook over two years ago.

Tirath Singh: An aide of Jaipal, Tirath is the most dreaded named in the field of contract killing and is wanted in more than 10 such cases in different states. He is also a master of highway robberies.

Harry Chatha: Supreet Singh alias Harry Chatha helped Gounder and Prema Lahoriya in the Nabha jailbreak. He is accused in a number of cases of robbery and murder.

Gopi Ghanshampur: Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi Ghanshampur from Amritsar district is also a key aide of Gounder. He is wanted in 13 cases of murder and other crimes.

Budha Khosa: Sukhpreet Singh alias Budha Khosa belongs to Khosa village in Moga district. After gangster Davinder Bambiha was killed in Bathinda, he started heading that group

The region has become the epicentre of activities of these gangs, reflected in the fact that all the gangsters killed or arrested, barring two — one each from Ludhiana and Jalandhar, are from the districts in the region, including Bathinda, Muktsar, Fazilka, Faridkot, Ferozepur and Moga.

Two gangsters, Manpreet Singh Manna and Prabhdeep Singh, were killed in an encounter with the police in Gulabgarh village in Bathinda on December 15, while three others, Harwinder Singh alias Bhinda, Gurwinder Singh alias Ginda and Amritpal Singh, were arrested.

Three more, Kamaljeet Singh alias Banti, Jaspreet Singh and Nishan Singh, had reportedly committed suicide by shooting themselves when a police party raided their hideout in a village near Dabwali in Haryana in June.

Among the notorious gangsters arrested are Gurbaksh Singh Sewewala, Jagseer Singh Seera and Harsimrandeep Singh alias Simma. The area of operation of these gangs mainly remained the Malwa region and the bordering states of Haryana and Rajasthan. As per the home department experts, chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has given a clear message to the criminals that they either “shun violence of face action”.

The DGP, Suresh Arora, even acknowledged in the press conference that the free hand given by the CM upped the moral of the force. As per figures provided by Arora, 17 ‘A category’ and ‘21 B category’ gangsters were active in the state as of January last year. “Now remain eight in ‘A category’ and nine in ‘B category’,” he said.