Gounder killed his sporting career

Archit Watts in Muktsar

Around 13 years ago, then director general of police MS Bhullar had honoured Harjinder Singh in a local sports function. In the following years, Harjinder rose to become a national-level discus thrower. And today, the police have announced a Rs 25-lakh cash award leading to his arrest.

Harjinder (27) aka Jinder aka Vicky Gounder is the son of farmer Mehal Singh Bhullar of Sarawan Bodla village in CM Parkash Singh Badal's home turf Lambi. Gounder is one of the deadliest gangsters of the state, who broke out of maximum-security Nabha Jail on Nov 27.

Gounder (meaning a goon in local parlance) is the prime accused in the killing of Sukha Kahlwan, a gangster. The Tarn Taran police arrested him exactly a year ago. He had allegedly danced over the body and filmed the act before fleeing. His audacity and claim to fame is he once uploaded a post on Facebook and dared the Bathinda SSP to arrest him. 

The police say Gounder is soft-spoken with a muscular body, and stands 5 ft 8 inches. He is mostly a loner and can spend a fortnight without stepping out of his room. But he can't drive a car. There are 12 Facebook accounts in Gounder's name. The police suspect that his unidentified friend operates his accounts from Indonesia.

At his house located on the outskirts of the village, Gounder's mother Jaswinder Kaur says the family was unaware of his moniker Vicky Gounder until the police came to their residence looking for him some years ago. “I call him Harjinder or Jinder with love. He was very fond of kutcha milk and used to drink even two litres in one go. A teacher asked us to send him to the Sports Academy, Jalandhar. The police say he is a deadly gangster.”

Gounder entered the police records on Sept 16, 2010, when he along with Sukha Kahlwan and some others allegedly killed a timber store owner in Jalandhar and snatched his car. Thereafter, continuing his criminal activities, he reportedly took Rs 7 lakh from a resident of Ludhiana assuring admission in the MBBS, later looted Rs 45 lakh from him in Amritsar in 2013.

The family disowned him long ago fearing police action. “My husband and I never went to meet him in jail or court. Our family has applied for two arms licences as we fear for our life.” 

Family contrasts

Dhotia (Tarn Taran): For the villagers, Aman Dhotia is 'Bhoora'-- the fair one -- and his elder brother 'Kali' (black). It is common for parents to name their children on the basis of their complexion. What villagers find uncommon is how a brother of an Army martyr has taken to crime. Aman is an engineering diploma holder. His brother Sepoy Sukhpal Singh 'Kali' took a bullet in his head in Poonch on November 7, 2011. He was with 3 Sikh Light Infantry. 

Aman Dhotia's family is the only Mazhabi Sikh family in the village with a population of around 10,000 and 31 gurdwaras to have served in government departments for three generations. His grandfather was a patwari with the irrigation department. His father retired as Roadways driver. The village also has a gurdwara built in the memory of martyr Sukhpal Singh 'Kali'. 

Bhoora's rise in crime has led to his parents, Bakshish and Jasbir Kaur, fleeing their home after the Nabha jail break. The couple has left their dog locked inside, who barks every time someone knocks the door. “Policemen have repeatedly asked us as to who feeds the dog. We don't know where the family has gone.” 

The neighbours say they have not seen Aman for years as he stopped coming home after Bakshish disowned him. 

Amandeep Singh Dhotia completed a three-year diploma in engineering from Shahid Bhagat Singh Polytechnic College, Patti. A student of the same college at Patti said: “His first fight was with a teacher. Then he became close to local musclemen. He was into robberies apparently to feed his drug habit.” He was recently arrested for a murder at Sultwanwind village in September last year.  —Manmeet Singh Gill

'Bright boy' Sonu Mudki

Ferozepur: Gurpreet Singh Sekhon (39) aka Sonu Mudki (the village's name) was a bright student of a well-known school in the area. So, no one really knows how and why he turned a criminal. “If given an opportunity, I'd like to reform him and bring his life back to normal,” says Dr Sunita Aggarwal, Gurpreet's tutor for seven years. 

Dr Aggarwal remembers him as an obedient and a shy boy. “I was shocked when I came to know that Gurpreet has become a gangster,” she says. His school principal Dr Sanjeev Jain, who taught him physics for four years, says Gurpreet was well-behaved in the school from where he passed matriculation in 2003-04.

Local residents say Gurpreet drifted after he landed in Chandigarh where he had joined a flight attendant training course. When he was lodged in the Faridkot jail, Gurpreet advised youths to shun drugs and even helped a few of them to get out of it.

It was in January 2012 during the assembly polls when Gurpreet met Shera Khuban through a common acquaintance and his journey into the “one-way street” of crime began. As per information, Gurpeet once dropped Shera to Chandigarh in his Pagero after the later had committed a crime in Village Peareana and their friendship cemented.

Village residents say following the jail break, the Sekhon family left for an undisclosed location. Gurpreet's younger brother is settled in the UK. The other family members stay in the town. Family friends are apprehensive that Gurpreet has probably been “nabbed.”  —Anirudh Gupta