GANGSTER VICKY GOUNDER IN BANGKOK?

CYBER GANGSTER FB post ‘from nightclub’ sparks speculation about Nabha jailbreak escapee

CHANDIGARH: Punjab’s most wanted gangster who escaped in the Nabha jailbreak last year, Harjinder Singh Bhullar, better known as Vicky Gounder, posted a Facebook ‘check-in’ at a Bangkok nightclub on Monday, conveying that he has managed to flee to Thailand. But the police said they had no such information and it could be a diversionary hoax.

CHANDIGARH: Punjab’s most wanted gangster who escaped in the Nabha jailbreak last year, Harjinder Singh Bhullar, better known as Vicky Gounder, posted a Facebook ‘check-in’ at a Bangkok nightclub on Monday, conveying that he has managed to flee to Thailand.

But the police said they had no such information and it could be a diversionary hoax.

The check-in, which did not have any photo, was posted from Sugar Club on his Facebook page that he uses to deliver messages. The accompanying text was a rebuttal to his rival gang, the ‘Sukha Kahlwan group’, whose men on July 8 posted a video on Facebook in which they thrashed one of Gounder’s purported associates who says he is in India and only creating a hoax about escape to Bangkok. Gounder in his post denied any links with the man.

Meanwhile, additional director general of police (ADGP), law and order, Rohit Chaudhary said, “As far as our information is concerned, gangsters have left Punjab for the time being after the state government’s special drive against them. There is no information as such about any of them reaching Bangkok. All these can be hoax posts just to divert our attention.”

Gounder has been on a roll after the jailbreak and reportedly murdered three men from rival gangs in Gurdaspur in April. Last week, he posted on Facebook that the police planned to eliminate him in a fake encounter.

As for the Bangkok nightclub check-in, this is not the only social media post that says he’s abroad.

An “announcement” of Gounder’s purported escape to Bangkok was made by one of his associates, Shera Khubban, at 2am on July 8. He congratulated friends and declared that Gounder has reached “foreign”.

In the video posted by the Kahlwan group, a man having a Facebook profile with the name ‘Moge Wala Brar’ declares that he is a “close associate” of Gounder. He is forced to hurl abuses at Gounder and his associate Prema Lahoria while being beaten up.

Gounder’s post in Punjabi says, “Leave aside phone calls, I have not even a chat (over messages) with Moge Wala Brar. He is one of my followers on Facebook and often likes my posts. He was kidnapped by Sukha Kahlwan group by laying a honey trap... I caution all my friends to be alert about such traps.”

As far as our information is concerned, gangsters have left Punjab for the time being after the state government’s special drive against them. ROHIT CHAUDHARY, addl director general of police, law and order