On gangster Jaipal’s trail, cops nab 2 from Zirakpur
30KG GOLD HEIST Duo handed over to Ludhiana police; op carried out after interrogation of kingpin Gagan who was arrested on Thursday
CHANDIGARH: In an operation to nab dreaded “A category” gangster Jaipal Singh Bhullar, the organised crime control unit (OCCU) of Punjab Police on Sunday busted a hideout in Zirakpur and arrested Pardeep Singh of Gardiwala village in Hoshiarpur for his alleged involvement in the 30kg gold heist in Ludhiana on February 17.
The raid was conducted at a flat in Eminence Housing Society at Singhpura in Zirakpur in the wee hours of Sunday. The police recovered a pistol from Pardeep’s possession and also arrested Harpreet Singh of Peer Mohammad village in Ferozepur in whose flat Pardeep was hiding.
Inspector general of police Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, who heads OCCU and was leading the raiding team, said police teams raided a number of places in the state to nab Jaipal, who was also actively involved in the gold heist. Jaipal, son of a former policeman, was a national-level
All culprits stayed at a Zirakpur flat for a week before committing the crime and also the night after the crime. KUNWAR VIJAY PRATAP, inspector general of police
hammer thrower. He is wanted in more than 15 cases of murder and robberies.
JAIPAL ON THE RUN SINCE APRIL 2016
Jaipal is on the run ever since he allegedly killed rival gangstercum-politician Jaswinder Singh Rocky on April 30, 2016, in Parwanoo, Himachal Pradesh.
On Thursday, the OCCU team arrested inter-state gangster Gagan Judge, a key aide of gangster Jaipal, after a high drama in the Sector 36 market, Chandigarh, and recovered ₹31 lakh in cash, a pistol, two magazines and 50 live cartridges from his possession.
“All culprits stayed at Harpreet
flat for a week before committing the crime and also a night after the crime. Both Pardeep and Harpreet have been handed over to the Ludhiana police for further investigation,” said Kunwar Vijay Pratap.
Pardeep and Gagan were among the five suspects involved in the gold heist from a branch of India Infoline Finance Ltd (IIFL) in Ludhiana’s Gill Road area on February 17.
While four men with their faces covered entered the IIFL branch, one stayed outside in a car, police had said earlier, adding that there was no security guard at the branch at the time of the incident.
The accused had then asked the staff to handover keys of the safe where the gold ornaments were kept. They tied the staff members with a rope and decamped with nearly 30kg gold ornaments.
Gagan and his gang members are allegedly involved in more than two dozen cases of contract killing, attempt to murder, extortion, vehicle theft and other crimes of serious nature.