Ops Bruce Lee, Bonnie and Clyde, Pink City — how crack team hunted down Punjab gangsters
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 24
The name of martial arts legend Bruce Lee often cropped up in hushed tones during police meetings after the 2016 Nabha jailbreak masterminded by Hong Kong-based gangster Ramanjit Singh Romi. Six notorious criminals, including terrorists and gangsters, had escaped in the incident.
‘Operation Bruce Lee’ was the secret code given to the police plan to nab the fugitives, especially Romi. The kingpin was based in Kowloon, the hometown of the famous martial arts expert.
The police had earlier also launched special operations, having secret codes, to arrest or eliminate gangsters, officials revealed. ‘Operation Bonnie and Clyde’, named after American bandits, was launched to hunt down shooters Mannu Kusa and Jagroop Roopa, involved in singer Sidhu Moosewala’s killing. Gangster Tejinder Teja was tracked under ‘Operation Fast Track’, named after ‘tej’ (Punjabi word for ‘fast’). Another gangster, Ankit Bhadu, was neutralised in Zirakpur as part of ‘Operation Pink City’ — Ankit belonged to Jaipur, the Pink City.
The Nabha incident, which is in the news again after Romi’s extradition to India two days ago, had baffled the police since Khalistan Liberation Force chief Harminder Singh Mintoo and gangster Gurpreet Sekhon were among those who had escaped from the jail. Three police officers then took it upon themselves to arrest the criminals. The three — AIG Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, AIG Harvinder Singh Virk and DSP Bikramjit Singh Brar — started their pursuit of the fugitives. After eight long years, ‘Operation Bruce Lee’ came to fruition with Romi’s extradition to India. While Virk and Brar went to Hong Kong to bring Romi back, Chauhan, who had made a number of visits to the country earlier, waited earnestly.
Sharing details of the operation on the Decode Punjab show of The Tribune, the police officers spoke about how the secret codes were coined to catch or neutralise gangsters and terrorists.
Chauhan said gangsters were making extortion calls from Canada, the US and other countries to people in Punjab. They were using impressionable youths by luring them with money or weapons, he said. “The Nabha jailbreak was a watershed case. It led to formation of the Organised Crime Control Unit to target gangsters. Later, it evolved into the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF). Headed by ADGP Promod Ban, under the supervision of DGP Gaurav Yadav, the AGTF launched a massive crackdown on the gangsters,” he said.
“Such has been the impact of the drive that no gangster is active on the soil of Punjab now. Most are behind bars, neutralised or have fled abroad,” they said.
They also revealed that 350 social media accounts, which were used to lure youths to gangs, have been deactivated on the directions of the police. “We are pursuing gangsters in other countries and hopefully with political support there, will track them and bring them back,” said AIG Virk.
Need to quiz Goldy, Anmol in Moosewala case
Sidhu Moosewala’s murder remained the most challenging case for the police. Though many suspects had been arrested, unless Goldy Brar and Anmol Bishnoi, believed to be Canada and the US, were questioned, the probe would not be complete, said cops.