Hindustan Times (Patiala)

PUNJAB CONSTABLE ‘IN LOVE WITH GANGSTER’ ARRESTED

’FASCINATED’ Arrested student leaders named the cops as conduits for supplying drugs. money in jail

- Vishal Rambani rambani@hindustant­imes.com n

PATIALA: An assistant jail superinten­dent (AJS) and a constable were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly helping Kulpreet Singh alias Neeta Deol, main accused in last year’s Nabha jailbreak who has since been rearrested, with drugs, SIM cards and mobile phones, besides cash, inside the Patiala jail where he is now lodged.

While the AJS, Rupa Singh, did it for money, constable Karanjot Sharma, who was deputed in Nabha jail earlier, did it because she was “fascinated by his lifestyle” and they had a “love affair”, investigat­ors told HT.

Their arrests come after interrogat­ion of student leaders Armandeep Singh Cheema of Patiala, who is president of the Gandhi Group Students Union’s (GGSU) Chandigarh campus unit of Panjab University, and Harman Singh Virk of Samana, who is chief patron of the union; both were arrested near Rajpura on Tuesday on similar charges.

“They named Rupa Singh and constable Karanjot as their conduit to supply drugs, mobiles and money inside the Patiala central jail to the accused of Nabha jailbreak. And their claims were corroborat­ed with evidences. Thus, the police arrested both the officials,” said Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, AIG, organised crime control unit (OCCU), who is leading the probe.

Rupa Singh is to retire at the end of this month, Karanjot, 26, is a 2012-batch constable. “She was fascinated with Neeta, and fell in his trap,” claimed inspector Bikram Brar, who is part of the investigat­ion team.

“These student leaders used to supply the items to both the officials outside the jail. Beside, that woman constable was in direct touch with the main accused (Neeta), whom she had met during duty at the Nabha jail,” said Chauhan.

He said there is a possibilit­y that more jail staff are involved.

Soon after the jailbreak in November last year, police had arrested Nabha jail’s then assistant superinten­dent Bhim Singh and warder Jagmeet Singh for helping the gangsters .

AAP RALLY UNDER THE SCANNER

With the arrest of GGSU leaders Armandeep Cheema and Harman Virk, reported funding for the Aam Aadmi Party has also come under scanner, as both accused had held a massive rally for it during the elections held early this year.

“Harman had held a rally that was addressed by AAP MP (and now Punjab unit chief) Bhagwant Mann and (the then AAP state convener) Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi.

The rally was show of strength of almost 10,000 people. These men had anticipate­d an AAP government, so had started coming close to the party leadership, especially Bhagwant Mann,” said a probe officer. “We are investigat­ing as to where these men got the funds from for the rally.”

 ??  ?? Accused AJS Rupa Singh and constable Karanjot Sharma
Accused AJS Rupa Singh and constable Karanjot Sharma
 ??  ?? Gangster Neeta Deol
Gangster Neeta Deol
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India