STF foils bid to release prisoner, five held
KAPURTHALA: Sleuths of Special Task Force (STF) with the assistance of local police claimed to have foiled a plan to free an undertrial from police custody during his court hearing here on Wednesday. Five members of the infamous Goru Bachcha gang have been arrested in this connection.
Police have also recovered two .30-caliber pistols, five cartridges and sharp edged weapons from their possession. Those arrested have been identified as kingpin of the gang Harpreet Singh of Dhilwan, Jatinder Singh Bholu of Kaduwal, and Harpreet Singh of Dhilwan, Gurjeet Singh, Gurwinder Singh Randhawa of Mand Dhilwan in Bholath. Three members of the gang — Ajay Kumar of Dubgarh Colony in Amritsar, Satwant Singh of Daudpur village in Ludhiana and Joda of Mirzapur in Kharar — managed to flee from the spot. Gurjeet is the son of the owner of GS Gun House in Batala and police are suspecting that he could have been supplying weapons to the gang.
Addressing a press conference, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sandeep Sharma said, “The gang had planned to release gangster Jarnail Singh, alias Cherry, who is facing trial in many cases and is lodged at Kapurthala jail.”
The SSP said the gang members were in regular contact with Cherry and efforts were on to find out the mode of communication. He said the operation was carried out on the basis of a tip off from the STF.
STF head Diljinder Singh Dhillon said he had received inputs from his intelligence that members of the Goru Bachcha gang were planning to free a gangster during his hearing in a Kapurthala court.
“I approached the police and in a joint operation, we arrested five people.They have confessed to the plan,” Dhillon said. He said all those arrested have criminal background.
A case has been registered under Sections 399 (making preparation to commit dacoity), 402 (assembling for purpose of committing dacoity), 307 (attempt to murder), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against eight people.