Gangster Jaipal, aide gunned down by police in Kolkata
KOLKATA/CHANDIGARH: Gangster Jaipal Bhullar and his aide Jaspreet aka Jassi Kharar, who, besides other cases, were wanted for the killing of two cops Bhagwan Singh and Dalwinderjit Singh in Ludhiana on May 15, were gunned down by the West Bengal Police’s special task force (STF) in the New Town area close to Kolkata on Wednesday evening, police said. Bhullar and his associate, who had rewards of ₹10 lakh and ₹5 lakh, respectively, on their heads, were living in an apartment in an upscale locality there.
A police officer, Kartick Mohan Ghosh, got injured when the fugitives opened fire at the police party. The West Bengal Police was in touch with their counterparts in Punjab after the STF got information about the gangsters from two men who were arrested near Siuri in Birbhum district on Sunday while they were trying to smuggle in a consignment of explosives and 9mm pistols from Bihar.
“The Punjab police have confirmed that the deceased are Jaipal and Jaspreet. We were on the lookout for quite some time and were in touch with several agencies, including the Punjab Police. We went to the apartment to arrest them but had to open fire in self defence when they fired on us, injuring an inspector,” Vineet Goyal, additional director general of police, West Bengal STF, said.
“We have recovered around ₹7 lakh in cash, five sophisticated pistols, including a Glock, and 89 rounds of ammunition from the apartment,” Goyal said.
Jaipal was wanted in several states including Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh in connection with more than 45 cases involving murder, kidnapping, robbery and smuggling.
Punjab director general of police Dinkar Gupta said following inputs from the Punjab police, the West Bengal STF swung into action, raided the apartment where the two were hiding and were subsequently killed.
He said Punjab Police received a breakthrough with the arrest of one Bharat Kumar of Sahnewal, from near Shambhu Border in Rajpura on Wednesday, who revealed that both Jaipal and Jassi were holed up in a rented apartment in Kolkata.
“I am grateful to West Bengal Police, especially the ADGP and STF chief Vineet Goyal, who acted fast on inputs provided by the Punjab Police,” said Gupta. Jaipal was absconding since 2014 and during all these years, he had committed many crimes and was wanted in more than 25 cases. He was currently into drug smuggling from across the border.
SON OF A COP, JAIPAL WAS ON THE RUN AFTER GUNNING DOWN TWO COPS IN LUDHIANA’S JAGRAON TOWN ON MAY 15
LUDHIANA: Failing to make it big in the world of sport, Jaipal Bhullar — one of Punjab’s most wanted drug smuggler and gangster who was killed in an encounter in Kolkata on Wednesday — achieved notoriety in the world of crime.
Son of a cop, Bhullar was on the run after gunning down two assistant sub-inspectors of Punjab Police in Ludhiana’s Jagraon town on May 15.
Belonging to Ferozepur, Bhullar had a long association with Ludhiana. A national-level hammer thrower, his sporting career picked up in 2003 when he joined Speed Fund Academy, a government-run training centre in Ludhiana. Also, it was here in July 2004 that he made his first foray into the world of crime by kidnapping a cinema hall owner’s seven-year-old son.
With this his sporting career came to an end and his crime graph took a flight, as he came in contact with other gangsters in jail.
First such associate was Rajiv Raja who was arrested in 2006 for killing three family members of a jeweller in Ludhiana. Later, out on bail, Bhullar met Shera, with whom he decided to form a gang. In January 2009, both helped Raja flee from police custody at the Barnala bus stand.
Later, the gang carried a series of robberies, including at a gun house in Hoshiarpur, followed by more crimes in Mohali and Panchkula. They were also behind several carjackings on the highway.
Arrested in Chandigarh, Bhullar came in contact with gangster Rocky of Fazilka and formed a new gang. With witnesses reluctant to speak up, the gangsters were acquitted in July 2010, and soon there was a rift between the duo. Rocky decided to enter politics and allegedly helped cops hunt down a number of gangsters, before he was finally killed by Bhullar at Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district in 2015. Bhullar had also masterminded the ₹1.33-crore cash van robbery in Banur in 2017 besides executing robbery of 30kg gold at a Ludhiana firm in February 2020.
Jaspreet Singh, 29, the other man gunned down by the West Bengal police, was Bhullar’s close aide. A resident of Kharar in Mohali, he was involved in several crimes with the gangster, including kidnapping of a businessman in Zirakpur last year.
He was also involved in killing the two ASIs in Jagraon.