Punjab Police arrest five shooters among 11 operatives of Lawrence-Rinda Gang
Chandigarh/Jalandhar, June 30: In an extensive and planned operation, the Punjab Police have busted an inter-state gang backed by gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Harwinder Rinda, with the arrest of its 11 members.
Nine weapons and five looted vehicles were recovered from their possession, said ADGP, Anti-Gangster Task Force, (AGTF) Promod Ban, while addressing the media here on Thursday. The operation was carried out by the Jalandhar Rural Police.
The accused have been identified as Mohd Yaseen Akhtar alias Jaisy Purewal of Nakodar, Jalandhar; Sagar Singh of Naya Shahar Badala in Mohali; Amar Malik of Samrala, Ludhiana; Navi of Lohian, Jalandhar; Ankush Sabharwal @ Paya of Nakodar, Jalandhar; Sumit Jaswal @ Kaku of Una (HP); Amandeep alias shooter of Phillaur, Jalandhar; Shiv Kumar @ Shiva of Phillaur, Jalandhar; Vishal alias Fauji of Nakodar, Jalandhar; Arun Kumar alias Mani Rana of Una (HP) and Annu alias Pehalwan of Kapurthala. All accused are history sheeters and have been facing cases of heinous crimes.
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ADGP Promod Ban, who was accompanied by SSP Jalandhar Rural Swapan Sharma, said that this group was active in several neighbouring states and had been involved in crimes, including murder, attempt to murder, armed dacoity, organised extortion, dacoity, robbery, and drug smuggling. “With their arrest, the Punjab Police have thwarted at least seven murders, two police custody escapes, and four armed robberies,” he added.
The ADGP said as per preliminary investigations, the gang was being operated by Vikram Brar, an associate of Goldy Brar on the directions of Harwinder Singh alias Rinda. Notably, Brar, a resident of Hanumangarh in Rajasthan currently residing abroad is wanted by the Police of six states. He is a classmate of Lawrence Bishnoi and is active on social media.
Giving details about arrested persons, SSP Swapan Sharma said Mohamad Yaseen Akhtar alias Jasse had been missing since a year. A prodigy of Brar and Lawrence, Jasse had been involved in at least 16 criminal activities, he said.
He said another arrested person identified as Ankush Sabarwal alias Paya, who had six criminal cases registered against him, was a student of Vikram Brar at an IELTS centre in Nakodar in 2014 and had been providing shelter and safe house to Saurav Mahakal of Maharashtra, who was arrested by the Pune Police. Along with Mahakal, he committed three crimes in Punjab, during Mahakal’s two-month stay in the state.
The SSP said Arun Kumar alias Mani Rana was a jailed gangster and was operating at the behest of the Lawrence-Jaggu Bhagwanpuria group. The arrested gang had planned Mani Rana’s escape from police custody during a court hearing in Una, Himachal Pradesh, he said, while adding that Sumit Jaswal alias Kaku has been arrested as he was actively involved in doing recce and organizing logistics for this escape attempt. “With the arrest of this gang, the backbone of organised criminal activities in the Doaba region in general and Jalandhar, in particular, has been broken,” he added.
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Pertinently, in the past two months, the Jalandhar Rural Police have arrested 32 gang members across the state-affiliated with various jailed gangsters and recovered 38 weapons from their possession.
-PTC News
