Robbery foiled, five gang members held

Patiala, April 5

The Rajpura police today claimed to have busted a gang that was planning a robbery. Five members of the gang have been arrested.

Yogesh Sharma, SP (D), Patiala, said yesterday, a tip-off was received on a “five-member” gang who were in possession of illegal weapons and stolen vehicles. They were hiding in a residential area near a school on the ICL road in Rajpura and were planning a robbery.

Acting on the information, a special team was formed under the supervision of DSP Rajpura Bikramjit Singh Brar. The team, headed by Inspector Princepreet, SHO, City Rajpura, and Harry Boparai, in charge of Special Cell, Rajpura, raided the place and arrested all five suspects in the evening. One .32-calibre pistol along with five cartridges, one .315-calibre country made pistol, two sharp weapons, two stolen motorcycles that were used in various crimes and a fake vehicle number plate were recovered from them.

The suspects have been identified as Sunny Masih of Dera Baba Nanak, Gurdaspur; Shiv Kumar, a Bihar native at present residing in Banda Basti, Banur; Nishan Singh of Gurdaspur, Darshan Kumar of Rajpura and Gaurav Rajput, a native of UP at present residing at Banda Basti, Banur.

The SP said a preliminary interrogation of the suspects revealed that they were operating under gangsters lodged in the Goindwal jail. The leader of the gang, Sunny Masih, has many criminal cases pertaining to narcotics and arms registered against him. He had procured the .32 calibre weapon from a Madhya Pradesh-based supplier. Sunny has an old rivalry with Piara Singh, an aide of gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpur.

An case under Sections 399, 402 and 473 of the IPC and 25/54/59 (6) (7) of the Arms Act has been registered.