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Landa’s aide sent to 5-day remand, got drugs, arms from Uganda-based suppliers
The State Special Operation Cell (SSOC, Mohali), which is probing the case, told the court that they needed the remand of Rajan Bhatti, 30, a resident of Gurdaspur’s Mustafabad Jatta village, to know the source of ₹7.97 lakh, which recovered from a MIG (middle-income group) flat in Sector 70, where he was residing with a female friend.
A day after a close associate of Canada-based terrorist Lakhbir Singh Landa was arrested from Sector 71 after a brief encounter, a local court on Friday sent him to a five-day police remand.
The State Special Operation Cell (SSOC, Mohali), which is probing the case, told the court that they needed the remand of Rajan Bhatti, 30, a resident of Gurdaspur’s Mustafabad Jatta village, to know the source of ₹7.97 lakh, which recovered from a MIG (middle-income group) flat in Sector 70, where he was residing with a female friend.
“We need to arrest the consumers, to whom he sold the contraband. Moreover, since two weapons have been recovered from his flat, more weapons are expected to be recovered from him and his gang. It is also important to know whom was he targeting and why he was keeping the weapons with him,”a police officer said.
They told the police that Punjab-origin suppliers in Uganda (Africa) would smuggle the weapons and drugs to Punjab or Delhi, and he would further distribute them among his associates.
Police officers recovered a .45 bore pistol and five cartridges, ₹7.97 lakh drug money and around 270 gm heroin from a house that was being rented by his friend, who was not aware of his criminal activities. Cops said that Bhatti had revealed a different name to her. A police officer, on condition of anonymity, said, “The BMW recovered from Bhatti belonged to another friend, who is yet to be arrested.”
Cops are investigating whether Bhatti threw one of his two phones during the chase in Sector 71 before being arrested as his friend told the police that he has two mobile phones, but only one was recovered from him.
The accused was already wanted by the cops for cases registered under sections of the Arms Act and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Seeking Bhatti’s remand, police said they are yet to nab the accomplices, who helped him in his drug business and supplied him with illegal weapons.
On February 9, when cops got wind of Bhatti’s presence in the area, an SSOC team led by sub-inspector Harminder Singh, assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Baljit Singh and head constable Yuvraj Singh set up a check post. On approaching the naka, Bhatti, who was in a white-coloured BMW along with his female friend, was signalled to stop. But, he sped away and almost managed to escape before he reached a dead-end in a residential area in Sector 71. As police cars that were tailing him blocked his way, Bhatti abandoned his car and ran into a nearby park. He later entered a house after scaling the walls. On hearing the commotion, residents of the house rushed out and also let loose their two dogs.
The gangster climbed to the terrace, but by then police teams had already surrounded the house. “To dodge the police, he tried to jump to the terrace of the adjoining house but got caught in a barbed wire mesh and injured himself. Acting swiftly, the team arrested him,” the officer added.
In Punjab, Bhatti faces over 15 criminal cases, including targeted killings and disturbing communal harmony in state on the instructions of Landa and Harvinder Singh Rinda, police said.
In Chandigarh, he is booked in seven cases, including rape, robbery, drug smuggling, possession of illegal weapons among others. He had also fired at a deputy superintendent of Chandigarh police in the past when a team had gone to nab him. He had also escaped police custody from the Chandigarh district courts a number of times.
Two drug peddlers held with heroin
The accused, Pamesh Arora, 36, of Sector 45, and Harjinder Singh, 33, of Mohali, were arrested on the basis of a tip off.
Both accused are history sheeters. While Parmesh has been arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Harjinder has been arrested by the Punjab Police in five cases. including of attempt to murder, dacoity and theft.
Police said the duo used to purchase heroin in bulk from Rajan Bhatti, a resident of Gurdaspur, Punjab and Jagga, a resident of Fatehgarh.
