Punjab cops neutralise gangsters' '302 Shooters' group

Moving beyond the social media fan pages of gangsters, the Punjab Police’s counter-intelligence wing and its Gurdaspur unit have got shut on Instagram an alarming ‘302 Shooters’ group that had been luring youth, mainly teenagers, into joining the world of crime.

The web page title ‘302 Shooters’ was inspired by Section 302 of the IPC, a punishment for murder replaced with Section 103 under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Gurdaspur SSP Harish Dayama spoke about the operation on ‘Under Investigation’, a crime show of The Tribune. “These teenagers were not criminals. It seemed they only wanted to appear ‘cool’ and joined the group, which had about 1,200 members, many from the Majha region districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Pathankot and Gurdaspur,” he said.

The police reached out to the group members to sensitise them to the dangerous path they were pursuing. Close to 250 such pages or accounts operated by gangsters or their accomplices have been blocked on Facebook, Instagram and X.

“In the digital era, social media patrolling is as essential as ground monitoring for the police,” said a senior official of the counter-intelligence wing. He said gangsters tried to lure new members into their groups to use them as “foot soldiers” for direct or indirect participation in strikes and to provide logistic and other support. “We reach out to such youths and conduct extensive counselling to make them believe these gangsters and criminals are no hero. We show them the reality of the criminals and how the youths will be putting their lives at risk. Social media pages and groups are shut down too,” said the official.

SSP Dayama explained that the police could not share the identity of the gangsters as the youth often glorified such antics of the criminals. “We reach out to the youngsters and sensitise them to the misplaced sense of looking cool and how dangerous it can be,” he said.

The gangster behind ‘302 Shooters’ is suspected to have fled abroad from Gurdaspur on fake documents about eight months ago after the police busted his gang and raided several of his hideouts. “This new genre of glorifying gangsters and criminals on Internet poses a herculean challenge for the security forces to proactively identify and shut down such groups. Being pro-active and pre-emptive against them digitally as well as on the ground is the mantra,” said counter-intelligence officials.

Digital assault on criminals

The Punjab Police said the page had about 1,200 members, many from the Majha districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Pathankot and Gurdaspur. Close to 250 such pages or accounts operated by gangsters have been blocked on Facebook, Instagram and X.