4 armed men held after encounter in Faridkot

Faridkot, May 8

Four armed men were arrested by the Faridkot Police after a brief exchange of fire near here today. Involved in many criminal cases, the accused are aides of Gurpreet Singh Sekhon, one of the four gangsters who had fled the high-security Nabha jail on November 27, 2016.

IG (Faridkot range) Pardeep Kumar Yadav said the accused, identified as Kuldeep Singh, alias Keepa, of Moga; Sukhchain Singh of Mansa; and Sukhmander Singh and Sewak Singh of Bathinda, were working as conduits of Sekhon, currently lodged in Bathinda jail.

The police today signalled the accused to stop at a barricading, but they opened fire. In a brief encounter, the police nabbed them after their car hit a tree. The police recovered 1 kg heroin, four pistols and cartridges from them.

The IG said the accused were working as a “supari gang” involved in property dispute cases. They were also involved in several robberies, besides collecting ransom and selling drugs in connivance with their operator, Sekhon.

He claimed a local politician had hired the “supari gang” to threaten and pressure a relative with whom he had a property dispute. Sources in the police said the high-value property was located near Ambala in Haryana.

The accused had allegedly stayed with the leader for some time and were funded and given arms by him. The accused were suspected to be working as musclemen for the leader. The police were probing political leader’s involvement, said the IG.

The kingpin, Kuldeep, was facing six criminal cases, while Sewak, Sukhchain and Sukhmander had 15, 2 and 3 criminal cases lodged against them respectively, the IG said.

In 2014, Kuldeep had allegedly killed a man at Rajeana village in Moga at the behest of a sarpanch. Later, he killed the sarpanch following a dispute over money.

“We hope to solve many other cases after interrogation of these accused,” said Faridkot SSP Avneet Kaur Sidhu.