Gounder aide arrested from Dehradun
FARIDKOT: Gangster Harsimrandeep Singh, alias Simma Sekhon, the main accused in the Jaitu rice mill owner’s murder in July last year, was arrested from Dehradun.
FARIDKOT:Gangsters Harsimrandeep Singh, alias Simma Sekhon, the main accused in the Jaitu rice mill owner’s murder in July last year, was arrested from Dehradun in a joint operation by Faridkot police and Uttarakhand Police on Saturday.
Simma, a resident of Behbal Kalan Baja Khanna in Faridkot district, is a close aide of fugitive gangster Harjinder Singh, alias Vicky Gounder, who fled the Nabha high-security jail in November 2016. Police said Simma joined the world of crime eight years ago and has been booked in six cases of murder, robbery, extortion and snatching. He has also been declared proclaimed offender.
Police said Simma was with Gounder when the stolen Toyota Fortuner they were travelling in overturned in Yamunanagar last month. Bathinda zone inspector general Mukhwinder Singh Chhina said Simma and three other gangsters were arrested with two pistols and a Hyundai Verna car. The operation was led by inspector Amritpal Singh Bhaati, along with sub-inspectors Khem Chand Prashar and Sunil Sharma.
A police official who was part of the operation said the gangsters we arrested on a tip-off. “Two days ago, we got information that Simma is in Dehradun. We immediately alerted our Uttarakhand counterparts and a team was rushed from hers. The gangsters were arrested from the Palton Bazaar,” said the official.
Faridkot SSP Nanak Singh said a case gas been registered against Simma and his aides under the Arms Act at the Dehradun (cantonment) police station. “They will be brought to Faridkot on a production warrant,” said the SSP.
In July last year, Simma and his accomplice came in a Swift car and fire bullets at rice mill owner Kochhar. They fled the spot leaving Kochhar dead on his driving seat.
Four days after the incident, Simma confessed to the crime on his Facebook page but refuted the police theory that Kochhar was killed after he refused to pay extortion money. In his Facebook post, Simma claimed that Kochhar was shot dead as he was a police “tout” and informed the cops about the activities of members of his gang.
After Kochhar’s murder, his family has sold off their property in Jaitu and have gone abroad.