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Punjab: 13 shooters among 19 Pinda gang members arrested
The Jalandhar rural police claimed to have busted an extortion and arms smuggling racket with the arrest of 13 shooters and six other men owing allegiance to the Palwinder Singh Pinda gang
In a major bust, the Jalandhar rural police on Friday claimed to have unearthed an extortion and arms smuggling racket with the arrest of 13 shooters and six other men owing allegiance to the Palwinder Singh Pinda gang.
Police reportedly also seized 11 weapons, two vehicles and foreign currency worth ₹8 lakh from those arrested during an operation that lasted for three weeks and came close on the heels of singer Sidhu Moose Wala’s murder that has led to a crackdown on gangsters operating in Punjab.
“Palwinder Singh, alias Pinda, is the kingpin of the gang involved in extortion and arms smuggling, and was handling the operations with the help of Greece-based Paramjit, alias Pamma,” said Swapan Sharma, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Jalandhar Rural, while addressing the media on Friday.
Pinda, a Jalandhar-based gangster who was arrested in 2016 for allegedly hatching the Nabha jailbreak conspiracy, is said to be a former close aide of gangster Vicky Gounder, one of the six prisoners to escape from the high-security jail who was gunned down in a police encounter in Rajasthan in 2018. Pamma is an alleged Khalistani terrorist.
The 13 arrested shooters have been identified as Sunil Masih (main shooter), Ravinder Ravi, Pradeep Singh, Manjinder Singh, Sukhman Singh, Sandeep, Major Singh, Aprail Singh, Balwinder, Salinder Singh, Satpal Singh, Devinderpal Singh, and Satwant Singh. “All are trained in weapons handling and are history-sheeters, facing over 24 cases of heinous crimes, including murder, attempt to murder, extortion, and arms smuggling, across Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ferozepur, Tarn Taran, and Bathinda,” said the SSP.
The six other men, who were arrested for harbouring and providing logistics support to the shooters, have been identified as Amarjeet, Balbir Masih, Erik, Badal, Harwinder Singh, and Bachittar Singh. Police have also recovered eleven weapons, including seven .32 bore pistols, three .315 bore pistols and one .315 bore gun, besides a Toyota Innova and Mahindra XUV 500 and foreign currency amounting to ₹8 lakh from their possession.
“The gang has been active for the past six years and was involved in organised extortion, armed highway robbery, land mafia, and weapon smuggling from Madhya Pradesh. Of the 19 men arrested, at least 12 were wanted in eight criminal cases,” said the SSP, adding that with the arrests, police have also cracked three blind cases of murder, extortion and highway robbery that occurred in Jalandhar and Bathinda.
