Gangster Ankit Bhadu was using sophisticated weapons: Punjab Police

Notorious gangster Ankit Bhadu, who was killed in an encounter with the Punjab Police in Mohali district, was using sophisticated weapons to carry out his criminal activities, a senior police official said Friday.

The Punjab Police neutralised Bhadu of the dreaded Lawrence Bishnoi gang and arrested his accomplices Jarmanpreet Singh and Gurvinder Singh during an encounter in a residential locality near Zirakpur in Mohali on Thursday night, IGP Intelligence, Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU), Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh told reporters here.

Bhadu's both accomplices belong to Tarn Taran district, he added.

The official said Bhadu, who hailed from Siriey Wala village in Abhor, Punjab, and the two accomplices were wanted in over two dozen cases pertaining to murder, contract killing, extortion and other heinous crimes.

Bhadu's arrested accomplices, who did not belong to any particular gang, had taken the flat on rent, "which they were basically using as a hideout", he said.

Not paying heed to repeated warnings by the police asking him to surrender, Bhadu had jumped inside a nearby flat where he held hostage two minor children of the family, the IGP said.

"Bhadu fired on the police team and assistant sub-inspector Sukhwinder Singh got injured during the crossfire when a bullet pierced through his left thigh. While two of his main accomplices were arrested during the encounter, Bhadu died on the way to the hospital," he said.

The official said the hostages were freed by the police.

The IGP said three pistols, including one sophisticated smuggled weapon, and 43 live cartridges were recovered from the encounter site.

Bhadu was using these weapons to carry out his criminal activities, he added.

"Some of the weapons are of foreign make. Further investigations are going on to get more information on that," the officer said.

The IGP further said Bhadu was wanted by the police of several states.

The Rajasthan and Haryana Police had kept a reward of Rs 1 lakh each on his head, while the Punjab Police 2 lakh, he added.

"Bhadu was involved in numerous cases of extortion and murder in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, UP, HP and other neighbouring states.

"He was accused in seven murder cases: killing of one person in Ganganagar, Rajasthan, besides murdering Daljit Singh, husband of a councillor in Banur, Punjab, murdering a jeweller and a brother of a police inspector and killing of a rival gang member in Haryana's Bahadurgarh," the IGP said.

He said a team of the Punjab Police had been camping in Delhi and nearby areas in search of Bhadu.

After getting specific inputs following the Bahadurgarh gang war incident on February 6, police tracked him down and carried out the operation, he added.