Key aide of Bhagwanpuria gang held after encounter, arms seized

A key aide of Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang has been arrested following an encounter on Thursday afternoon and arms were seized from him.

Commissioner of police Swapan Sharma said the face-off between the police and gangster happened after he tried to flee from police custody with a huge cache of arms.

A city resident, Vivek Mattu of Patti Barri Jandiala, was attacked by two gangsters identified as Manjit Singh and Amandeep Singh on December 16.

Sharma said both the gangsters owing allegiance to notorious Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang had opened fire at Vivek after which he was injured.

The commissioner of police further said that both the accused were arrested by police and another accused Davinderpal Singh was also arrested afterwards. He said that information given by Manjit and Amandeep led to the recovery of one 9mm pistol along with three 9mm cartridges.

Sharma said that these criminals were involved in murder, threat, extortion, ransom and many other criminal activities, adding that several FIRs were already pending against them.

“Manjit had disclosed about the presence of additional weapons near a petrol pump and adjoining empty plots. However, when the police party took him to the spot, Manjit opened fire at the police party with the weapons hidden by them. In self-defence, the police retaliated, resulting in an exchange of approximately 15 rounds during fierce encounter.

The commissioner of police said that the accused was injured, and police have recovered five additional .32 bore weapons along with eight rounds of ammunition.