Slain gangster Vicky Gounder’s former associate found dead
GURDASPUR:A former associate of slain gangster Vicky Gounder was found in mysterious circumstances near a drain in a village in Gurdaspur district on Wednesday morning.
Thirty-year-old Jagroop Singh who was also sarpanch of Jaffarwal, left home on a scooter for Dhariwal on Tuesday evening, his mother Parminder Kaur said. He did not respond to phone calls she made to him later, she added.
Amandeep Singh Randhawa, station house officer (SHO) in Dhariwal said he received a call Wednesday morning about a body of a youth lying near a drain in Jaffarwal village. A scooter was near the body.
“Foam had come out of his mouth which indicated possible poisoning. We recorded the statement of his mother and registered a case. The body has been sent to the Gurdaspur civil hospital for post mortem,” Randhawa said.
Jagroop and his brother-inlaw Gagandeep Singh were arrested in June 2017 for harbouring members of Gounder’s gang.
Gurdaspur’s senior superintendent of police (SSP) HS Bhullar said Jagroop was released on bail a few months ago. Police said that Jagroop used to provide cars and shelter to the members of the Gounder gang. Jagroop’s car was used by the members of the gang to kill three members of a rival gang in Gurdaspur two years ago. The car was also used during Nabha jail break of November 2016 in which Gounder and others had escaped.
Gounder and his aide Prema Lahoria were killed by the Punjab police in an encounter on the Rajasthan border in January this year. Gounder, whose real name was Harjinder Singh, was Punjab’s most wanted gangster before he was neutralised.