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.