Gangster Rajodh Bablu caught after police encounter in Punjab’s Batala area

Ravi Dhaliwal

Batala, October 8

The Batala police arrested gangster Ranjodh Bablu from the sugarcane fields of Kotla Baja Singh village after a six hour long encounter in which nearly 70 rounds of fire were exchanged.

The entire village was converted into an impregnable fortress with the police blocking all entry and exit routes of the village.

The encounter, which involved nearly 150 policemen, was supervised by IG (Border) Mohnish Chawla and SSP Satinder Singh.

Bablu is wanted in a dozen NDPS and attempt to murder cases. The latest FIR that was registered against him was at the Rangar Nangal police station of Batala police district on September 9. He was booked under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 427 (damage caused due to mischief), 506 (criminal intimidation), 148 (rioting), 149 IPC (unlawful assembly) and the Arms Act.

The cops were on the lookout for Bablu for the past several weeks. Finally nemesis caught up with him today morning as he was driving his motorcycle on the Jalandhar road with his wife and son riding pillion. Kotla Baja Singh is located on the Jalandhar road, 8 km from Batala.

The police had a confirmed tip-off that Bablu would be going to Kotla Baja today morning.

Rangar Nangal SHO Manbir Singh raided the area once it became clear he had reached the village. In the ensuing commotion, the police nabbed his wife and child but Bablu somehow managed to escape towards the sugarcane plantations.

Sensing that he was cornered, he fired a couple of shots. The cops retaliated and by the time he was caught, 70 rounds had been exchanged. He kept firing for nearly two hours after which his gun became silent.

For the next few hours, SSP Satinder Singh, using a loudspeaker, kept on urging him to surrender.

Six hours after the first shots were fired around a dozen policemen walked towards the fields and pulled out a seriously injured Bablu.