Punjab Police focussing on ending gangsters' run : DGP

Fresh from the success of eliminating three gangsters, including the 'most wanted' Vicky Gounder, Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Suresh Arora said on Saturday the force is focussing on ending the run of gangsters in the state.

Punjab Police raided a house in a village in a remote area of Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan, bordering Punjab, on Friday evening in which Vicky Gounder, one of Punjab's most wanted gangsters, was killed along with two of his accomplices.

As the police team, surrounded the house, a shootout followed in which police gunned down Gounder, and his two accomplices -- gangsters Prem Lahoria and Sukhpreet Singh.

"It is a matter of time that gangsters (in Punjab) will have to face the law. I appeal to the youth, who have taken to crime and joined gangs, to surrender before law catches up with them," the DGP warned.On Saturday, a forensics team from Bikaner in Rajasthan arrived at the house, located near a 'dhani' (canal) in Hindumal Kot village, where the bodies of Gounder and Lahoria still lay.

The operation was carried by the Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU) of the Punjab Police team following specific tip-off that Gounder and others could be hiding in the area.

The police team raided the house located just 50 metres inside Rajasthan, close to the Punjab-Rajasthan border.

DGP Arora said that gangsters opened fire at the police team when they realized that they were surrounded.

While Gounder was killed inside the house, Lahoria tried to escape by scaling a wall. However, he was shot dead.

The third gangster, Sukhpreet Singh, who was injured in the shootout, died while being taken to the civil hospital in Abohar (in Punjab).

The house where the shootout took place is owned by the family of gangster Lakhwinder Singh Lakha.

He was arrested by the police following the encounter. Police recovered weapons and ammunition from the spot.

Assistant Inspector General Gurmeet Singh Chauhan said that two police personnel, including a sub-inspector and assistant sub-inspector, were injured in the shootout and have been admitted to hospital in Faridkot.

Gounder was evading arrest since November 2016 when he made a sensational escape from the maximum-security Nabha Central Jail in Punjab along with five other prisoners, including two terrorists.

While Punjab Police rearrested four escapees in a few months, Gounder remained on the run. He continued to taunt Punjab Police with regular Facebook updates while on the run.

Gounder was suspected to be behind a fatal attack on another notorious gangster Sukha Kahlwan near Phagwara town, 135 km from here, in January 2015.

Kahlwan was in police custody and on his way for a court hearing when gangsters attacked him.

Gounder, whose real name was Harjinder Singh, and other gangsters were running their gangs and issuing threats and extorting money from people while lodged in Punjab jails.

--IANS

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