A fortnight after busting Lawrence-Rinda gang, the Punjab Police on Thursday claimed to have arrested 13 more associates of an inter-state gang backed by gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Harwinder Rinda. With the arrests, the police claimed to have thwarted at least five murders, and seven armed dacoities and robberies.
The Jalandhar Rural police chased down the accused after a two-week-long operation led by special teams, said the Inspector General of Police (IGP, Headquarters) Sukhchain Singh Gill, while addressing the media in Chandigarh.
Earlier, the police had claimed to have busted the gang with the arrest of 11 history-sheeters on June 29.
Those arrested on Thursday 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 aka Gopi and Harman Kalsi of Jalandhar; Balwinder aka Billa of Kapurthala.
The police also recovered 13 sophisticated weapons, along with 18 cartridges, from their possession.
The IG Gill said that after the June 29 arrests, the Jalandhar Rural police were working on some leads to arrest the remaining associates. “All the arrested persons are history-sheeters and facing cases of heinous crimes, including murders, armed dacoity, organised extortion and highway robbery, in various districts such as Ludhiana, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Tarn Taran, Jalandhar, Khanna, Mohali, and Patiala,” he added.
Jalandhar Rural Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Swapan Sharma said that “as per preliminary investigation, this gang was being operated by Ghumma and Gopi, associated with Markas alias Massa, who had been taking directions from Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and Lawrence Bishnoi. Massa, a resident of Ferozepur, is in jail with 18 criminal cases registered against him.”
Giving details on arrested persons, the SSP said: “Gurpreet Gopi and Jobanpreet, who have seven criminal cases registered against them, were planning to eliminate three members of the Bambiha-Pinda gang. A recce to this effect was also executed and weapons were procured from an arms supplier from Madhya Pradesh.”
He said that Resham alias Bao and Gurpreet alias Ghumma Shooter, who also have seven criminal cases registered against them, were planning to kill two persons from their arch-rival Bambiha-Gounder gang.
“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. More arrests are expected in this case soon,” Sharma added.