E-Paper
Gangster with bullet injury held after 3-hour encounter in Batala
The gangster was hiding in a field of sugarcane, after hurriedly alighting from his motorcycle, when he was surrounded by a police team. The accused was firing indiscriminately.
A 26-year-old gangster was arrested by Punjab Police, after a three-hour-long encounter in which he received a bullet injury, in Kotla Bhoja Singh village situated on the Batala-Jalandhar road, on Saturday. Accused Ranjodh Singh alias Babla of Mattewal village in Amritsar was being chased by the Batala police on Saturday morning when the incident took place. Police used a drone, special commandos and bullet proof jackets to nab the accused, who had holed up in a fully grown sugarcane field. According to police, Babla has been facing six criminal cases in Batala and Amritsar-rural district. Babla had been living in Batala city for the last few weeks. After the gangster’s escape, police also detained his wife and children.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Batala, Satinder Singh said, “Today morning, we launched a special operation against absconding criminals. Babla had fled from home where he had been staying when our team raided there. When our team chased him, he opened fire and hid in a field. Our teams repeatedly asked the gangster to surrender, but he continued firing towards our team. Our teams also retaliated and around 80 rounds were fired from both the side. After a three-hour-long operation, he was arrested. We have also recovered two pistols which were used by the accused.”
The SSP said Ranjodh had been facing several criminal cases, including the two attempted murders which were registered in Batala in the last fifteen days. “We have also identified Ranjodh’s accomplices and our raids were on to nab them. We are also collecting information from the Amritsar rural police. It seems the gangster was in contact was other gang members,” he added.
According to eyewitness, the gangster had hidden in a field of sugarcane after hurriedly alighting from his motorcycle when he was surrounded by a police team. Seeing the accused firing indiscriminately on the police team, backup, including bullet proof vehicles and special commandos were called on the spot. A drone was also used to ascertain the exact position of the hiding accused. There are some houses near the spot where the gangster was hiding and the people living there were told to vacate the area. The entire village was turned into a police fortress.
After around 2 hours of the gun battle, the SSP tried to convince the accused to surrender, promising him his treatment and judicial trial, but to no avail. During the gunfight, no policeman was injured, said the SSP. Inspector general (IG), border range, Mohinish Chawla also visited the spot and oversaw the operation. Later on, the gangster was rushed to the Batala civil hospital. According to the doctors, he received a bullet injury in his right gluteal and he is said to be out of critical condition.
The encounter comes around two months after two gangsters linked to Sidhu Moos Wala’s killing were gunned down in a cross firing by Punjab Police in a border village of Amritsar.
