PISTOL USED IN SEC-9 FIRING RECOVERED DURING RAID

CHANDIGARH: Chandigarh Police on Wednesday claimed to have recovered an automatic pistol used in the firing outside a liquor shop in Sector 9 on June 2.

Three live cartridges and a magazine were also recovered during a raid at a house in Sector 48 on Tuesday, said police.

The raid was conducted on the basis of disclosures made by Vainkat Garg, 22, a close aide of gangster Lawrence Bidhnoi, who was arrested from Naraingarh in Ambala on June 11 for harbouring and providing logistical support to the two shooters.

Two men, identified as Rinku, alias Topi, of Pehwa and Davinder Chawla of Hisar, had rained bullets at a liquor shop on the evening of June 2, leaving four men injured. The two are on the run. Investigations had led police to Garg.

On Tuesday, police raided the house of Sumit Kumar Bhatia, 35, also a member of the Bishnoi gang, who was allegedly handed over the pistol by the shooters, said a senior police official, not wishing to be named.

While Bhatia managed to flee in an Audi, the pistol and ammunition were recovered from his garage. The Audi was also later recovered from his farm house situated on Patiala Road in Zirakpur, said police.

Bhatia is named as an accused in an Arms Act case registered at the Sector 31 police station in 2014. Meanwhile, police have also recovered Garg’s two mobile phones. “These mobile handsets are likely to have evidence or clues about crimes committed in Chandigarh,” said DSP (central) Krishan Kumar.