STF busts another gang in 10 days

Jalandhar: Within 10 days of the arrest of six gangsters, the special task force (STF) - constituted to curb the organized crime in the state - has busted another gang by arresting seven of its members. Police recovered five pistols, two rifles, 600gm of heroin and Rs 8 lakh cash from them. Two of the arrested gangsters also acted as drug peddlers, police said.
"They would take contracts in land disputes for getting possession of the land.They have been trying to increase their terror in Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts," police said.
One of the arrested accused is a postgraduate in information technology and has no past criminal record. He was facing financial constraints after the death of his father and one of the gangsters allured him for collecting payments of his drug supplies on commission basis.
STF assistant inspector general (AIG) H P S Khakh said that arrested were made during a coordinated operation by STF, Kapurthala and Jalandhar (rural) police. The gangsters were caught near Kohala village while they were travelling in two cars. "The gang had a deadly combination of weapons and drug supplies," Khakh said.
Gang leader Gurdeep Singh alias Bhinda of Ajtani village of Jalandhar already had nine cases registered against him, including those of attempt to murder. Another member Rakesh Kumar Keshi had 10 cases pending against him and Jaswant Singh Jassa had one.
Khakh revealed that Bhinda and Jassa were involved in drug peddling while other four members of the gang were their associates in other crimes. Another accused was identified as Mukul, a resident of village Bara Pind near Goraya, who did his graduation and then postgraduate diploma from St Soldier College Hadiabad in Phagwara and then MSc (IT) from a PTU-affiliated centre in Goraya.
His father ran a small grocery shop in the village and died sometime back. The family was facing financial constraints, police said, adding that he was lured by Bhinda with an offer on commission for collecting money for the drugs latter was supplying to addicts in the area. "He did not have any past criminal record and was being used for collecting money," Khakh said.
"Bhinda was close to Ludhiana-based prominent gangster Goru Bacha and both would help each other in increasing their clouts in the respective areas and in also snubbing the rival gangs," Khakh said.
The six-member gang earlier arrested by STF and district Kapurthala police on June 20, used to make video recordings while torturing their targets and then using the video clips to get more contracts for similar tasks.