E-Paper
Mohali trader shot in foot: Six more of Bhuppi Rana, Bambiha gangs held
Mohali police have also recovered two .32-bore pistols and five live cartridges, along with a Honda City car and motorcycle used in the crime, from the possession of the gang
A week after Mohali police arrested two of the three masked shooters who had shot a shopkeeper in the foot in Mohali’s Jhampur village on June 9 for not meeting their extortion demands, police have arrested six more members of the Bhuppi Rana and Davinder Bambiha gangs that they say were behind the attack.
Police have also recovered two .32-bore pistols and five live cartridges, along with a Honda City car and motorcycle used in the crime, from the possession of the gang.
Those arrested have been identified as Praveen Kumar of Karnal, Manish Saini of Panchkula, Nikhil Kumar of Mohali, Rohit Kumar of Dadumajra, Chandigarh, Dikshat, alias Dikshu, of Panchkula and Gaurav Paswan.
Police had earlier arrested Manveer Rana of Barwala and Deepak Kumar, alias Deepu, of Panchkula. The third shooter, Dilbar of Ambala, continues to be on the run.
Police have also nominated two more gang members, currently in Canada, in the case, stating that they were the ones who made threat calls using international numbers to the victim, Rohit Gupta, 40, a resident of Dhanas in Chandigarh.
The duo has been identified as Prince Chauhan of Ropar and Sandeep, alias Kala Rana, of Panchkula.
Mohali SSP Sandeep Garg, while addressing a press conference, said the attack on Gupta, who runs a gift shop in Jhampur village, was executed on the directions of Prince and Sandeep.
Sources added that Bhuppi Rana, currently lodged in Nabha jail, was the mastermind behind the attack and was recently brought here on a production warrant.
Bhuppi Rana is a close associate of fugitive gangster Lucky Patial, who is believed to be in Armenia and operates the Davinder Bambiha gang.
Notably, Bhuppi of Handesra village, Mohali, joined hands with the Bambiha gang after his arch rival, Monu Rana, joined the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
Gang also fired gunshots outside Panchkula Club
According to police, the same gang members, including Gaurav, had fired gunshots outside Escape Club in Sector 5, Panchkula, on June 15, to coerce the owner into paying extortion money. Gaurav was driving the motorcycle then.
“Nikhil and Rohit conducted recce in the Honda City before the attack on Gupta. Manish provided the three shooters a stolen motorcycle that was used in the crime. Both the vehicles have been recovered. Dikshu was also involved in the planning. During their interrogation, we got to know that the same gang fired gunshots outside the Panchkula club. With their arrests, we have solved two cases,” SSP Garg stated.
He added that all accused had criminal history and were involved in numerous cases in Haryana. The accused came in contact while being lodged in different jails in Haryana.
The gang got the weapons from suppliers in Uttar Pradesh.
Four days after being fired upon, Gupta got a personal security officer (PSO) from Chandigarh Police, as he is a resident of the city.
According to sources, the victim, other than running a toy shop in Mohali, also became a real estate developer in the same area, after which he got extortion calls. He had informed the Chandigarh Police nearly a month ago that he was receiving life threats from international numbers bearing photo of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi as WhatsApp display picture.
A cop stated that Bhuppi Rana gang members deliberately used Bishnoi’s picture to mislead the police.
