Punjab’s most-wanted and dreaded gangster Jaipal Bhullar, and his aide Jassi Kharar, was gunned down in Kolkata’s New Town area in a fierce encounter. The joint operation to flush out the two dreaded criminals was carried out by the Punjab Police and West Bengal Police’s STF (Special Task Force) on Wednesday morning.

Jaipal Bhullar is on the Punjab Police’s list of most wanted criminals, with more than 50 criminal cases registered against him in police stations across Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Delhi. he was also carrying a bounty of Rs 10 lakh issued by the Punjab Police, while Jaspreet had a bounty of Rs five lakh on his head.

The encounter on Wednesday took place at the Sapoorji Palanji complex in Kolkata's New Town area. Increased police deployment was seen in the area, including Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel. Bidhannagar Commissioner of Police, Additional Director General (STF), and other senior officials were also spotted at the encounter site.

A tip-off that arms dealers were hiding in a flat led the West Bengal STF to the residential complex in the New Town area on Wednesday. During the combing operation, the two criminals opened fire at the STF and Punjab Police. Both Gangster Jaipal Bhullar and his aide Jassi Kharar were killed in retaliatory firing. One police officer is also said to have suffered injuries in the encounter.

Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta, sharing the details of the joint operation — named Op Jack — during a press conference, said that both the gangsters-turned-drug smugglers were wanted in the killing of two ASIs — Bhagwan Singh and Dalwinderjit Singh — of Jagraon Police at grain market, Jagraon, on May 15, 2021 evening.

Notably, Jaipal had earlier snatched a 9 mm Pistol from an ASI Sukhdev Singh of Khanna Police on the evening of May 10, 2021, when he was deployed at a naka on GT road near Doraha. In this connection, Punjab Police had earlier arrested Darshan Singh and Baljinder Singh alias Babbi from Gwalior on May 28, 2021.

The DGP said that Punjab Police launched a massive operation code named OP-Jack manhunt and for nabbing the absconding drug smugglers, Jaipal Bhullar and Jaspreet Singh and many police teams were dispatched to various states to nab these gangsters with the help of other state police forces.

“Punjab Police today (Wednesday) arrested Bharat Kumar — a resident of Sahnewal, Ludhiana, from near Shambhu Border in Rajpura area and recovered one .30 bore Pistol, along with a Honda Accord vehicle, bearing registration number WB02R4500 by the team. Bharat is a close accomplice of Jaipal Bhullar, and was providing him logistic support in Gwalior area of MP after he and Jassi had fled from Punjab,” said the DGP.

DGP said that Bharat revealed that both Jaipal and Jassi were holed up in a rented apartment in Kolkata. “Punjab Police immediately dispatched a special team for Kolkata by flight. In the meanwhile, we also coordinated with Kolkata Police to share pinpointed inputs regarding their current hideout for the arrest of these two most wanted drug smugglers,” he said.

“A senior police officer from Kolkata police informed later in the afternoon that both the criminals had been killed in retaliatory firing by STF Kolkata in which one of their Police inspectors had also sustained bullet injuries,” added the DGP.

“I am grateful to West Bengal Police, especially the ADGP and STF chief of West Bengal Vineet Goyal, IPS, who acted immediately on inputs provided by the Punjab Police and organized a raid at the Kolkata apartment where Jaipal was holed up along with his associate, Jassi,” he said.

The DGP said that the neutralization of Bhullar and his close associate in Kolkata on Wednesday, and the arrest of two of his associates from Gwalior on May 28, 2021, is a big blow to the heroin drug smuggling network, which is operating from across the border.

JAIPAL BHULLAR'S RAP SHEET

Punjab’s one of the most wanted gangster Jaipal Bhullar is the son of a retired police officer. Carrying a bounty of Rs 10 lakh and with 50 criminal cases registered against him, Bhullar has emerged as the state’s most dreaded gangster, especially after his close aides — gangsters Vicky Gounder and Prema Lahoria — were killed in encounters with the Punjab Police.

Bhullar was also accused in the murder of two policemen in Ludhiana. He, along with three of his accomplices, opened fire at the police on May 15, 2021, after one of the cops identified him as a wanted criminal. Two ASIs were killed during the incident.

DGP Gupta said that Bhullar was absconding since 2014 and during all these years, he had committed many heinous crimes and was wanted in more than 25 sensational criminal cases. He was presently involved in smuggling of drugs from across the border in close collaboration with major drug smugglers based in Pakistan.

When Shera Khuban was shot dead in a police encounter in 2012, Jaipal suspected that Rocky had leaked information about Shera Khuban to the police. Therefore, in 2016, Jaipal murdered Jaswinder Singh alias Rocky near Solan. Jaipal took the responsibility of Rocky murder on Facebook and declared it as the revenge of Shera Khuban encounter.

In 2017, Bhullar and his accomplices made away with Rs 1.33 crore after robbing a cash van of Axis Bank in Banur on Chandigarh–Patiala Highway near Chitkara University and Rs 35 lakhs from an ATM loading van in Ropar.

In 2020, Bhullar, along with his brother Amritpal Singh Bhullar, also allegedly fled with 30 kg of gold in a daylight robbery at the IIFL branch on Ludhiana's Gill road.

Bhullar's brother Amritpal, along with gangster Gagandeep alias Gagan Judge, was later arrested by Punjab Police’s Organized Crime Control Unit (OCCU). However, Jaipal Bhullar managed to evade the police dragnet until

Wednesday.

JASSI’S CRIME SHEET

Japreet Singh alias Jassi, a resident of Kharar, was involved in at least four criminal cases, including the killing of two ASIs at Jagraon. He was a close accomplice of Jaipal Bhullar, along with Darshan Singh and Baljinder Singh alias Babbi, who were arrested from Gwalior on May 28, 2021.

‘METICULOUS FOLLOW-UP WORK, CLOSE COORDINATION LED TO SUCCESS’

DGP Dinkar Gupta said that today’s operation was the culmination of “painstaking follow-up work” by dedicated team of officers of Internal Security (IS) wing and Organized Crime Control Unit (OCCU); together with a “close coordination” between different police forces and the central agencies.