‘Goldy Masih is the kingpin’
HE IS REFERRED TO AS ‘DOCTOR’ OWING TO HIS TRADE OF ‘TRADITIONAL MEDICINES’ IN LUDHIANA
MOHALI: Though he has studied only up to Class 10, Goldy Masih, the alleged kingpin of a carjackers’ gang that had a shootout with police on Saturday, is referred to as “doctor” by associates.
Belonging to Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district, he was one of two men arrested after the encounter with Mohali police at Naina Devi in Himachal Pradesh wherein their accomplice Sunny Masih was killed.
The “doctor” moniker comes from the fact that he used to run a shop of “desi dawai” (traditional medicines) at Doraha in Ludhiana. “He is the kingpin of the gang of carjackers who used to sell the vehicles in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Kuldeep Singh Chahal, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Mohali, addressing a press conference on Monday. He came out of jail on bail in June this year. “He is a matriculate who sold powdered homoeopathic medici- nes as ‘desi dawai’ at his shop which has a ‘samadhi’ (grave/ memorial) of a ‘baba’ (old man/ mystic).”
He said Sunny, Goldy, Amanpreet, Sanju and Varun Sood, knew each other. “Sanju, (real name Jasvir Singh) is Goldy’s cousin and Varun came in touch him as his mother used to take medicine from him.” Police arrested Sanju and Varun, from whom the car used in the crime — snatching of a sedan— was recovered. They were remanded to four-day police custody.
About their modus operandi, Chahal said, “They used to steal RCS (registration certificates) of vehicles and then prepare fake number plates. The used to lift only those model of vehicles whose RCS they had. They got plates prepared from Phagwara. A fake RC was recovered from Sunny’s pocket,” added Chahal.
A team of Himachal Police recovered the original number plate of the Verna from near a dhaba in Kharar. Police said the men changed the number plate near Kharar after snatching it from the Landran-banur road.
As per the police, before taking away the Verna, the men had liquor in the car at Kharar. “Sunny and Amanpreet had stepped out of the Ritz along with Goldy when they snatched the Verna. They were carrying weapons while Goldy was armed with an iron rod,” added Chahal.
He said Sanju and Varun left with the Ritz car while Goldy, Amanpreet and Sunny took away the Verna and were chased down by cops.