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Gangster Harry Chatha-run extortion racket busted, 7 held
Punjab Police bust extortion racket operated by gangster Harry Chattha, arresting key associate Navneet Singh and three others, recovering weapons and vehicles.
Punjab Police have busted an extortion racket operated by notorious gangster Harry Chattha with the arrest of its key associate identified as Navneet Singh alias Nav, after a brief encounter that took place near village Balpurian in Batala.
Director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said the police have also arrested three more people identified as Gagandeep Singh alias Kaala of village Bal in Batala, Balraj Singh alias Baaz of village Amargarh Shahpur in Gurdaspur and Prem Kumar alias Ghulla of village Umarval for their direct involvement, while other three arrested accused persons identified as Harpreet Singh alias Preet of Majitha Road Amritsar, Sukhraj Singh of village Lakhanpal in Gurdaspur and Darshan Singh alias Darshi of Sudhaar in Jagraon were brought on production warrant from different jails for providing logistic support.
Yadav said the police teams have also recovered four pistols — including a Glock and three country-made pistols— along with live cartridges, two motorcycles used in crime and one car from their possession.
Deputy inspector general (DIG), border range, Narinder Bhargav, said two cases of extortion were reported in Batala recently wherein members of the Harry Chatha gang had opened fire outside a shop of a travel agent on October 28 and the house of a local businessman on October 7, after victims failed to pay extortion money.
Following the reliable information, Batala police started chasing a car. The accused Navneet Singh started firing at the police party forcing the police to retaliate in self-defence. During the firing accused Navneet sustained a bullet injury in his leg. The accused has been admitted to the hospital for medical treatment, he added.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Batala Ashwini Gotyal said that following technical inputs, police teams have managed to arrest three more persons of this module from different locations for their direct involvement in carrying out the shooting. Further investigations are on, and more arrests are expected soon, she said.
A fresh case has been registered against the accused under sections 307, 353 and 186 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and section 25 of the Arms Act has been registered at Police Station Sadar, Batala.
Harry Chatha is believed to be operating from Pakistan at the behest of its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. Chatha has been on the run since the Nabha Jail break on November 27, 2016, in which a group of gangsters freed Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Harminder Singh Mintoo, militant Kashmir Singh and gangster Vicky Gounder.
