Gangster wanted in Delhi, UP held after shootout in Ropar

Punjab Police arrested a gangster wanted in multiple cases in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh after a chase and exchange of fire at Kahanpur Khuhi near Nurpur Bedi in Rupnagar district in the wee hours of Friday. He has been identified as Shri Prakash Mishra, alias Jhunna Pandit, 24.

Punjab Police arrested a gangster wanted in multiple cases in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh after a chase and exchange of fire at Kahanpur Khuhi near Nurpur Bedi in Rupnagar district in the wee hours of Friday.

Shri Prakash Mishra, alias Jhunna Pandit, 24

He has been identified as Shri Prakash Mishra, alias Jhunna Pandit, 24. Police also seized two .32 bore pistols and eight bullets from him during the operation carried out around 4am.

Jhunna Pandit, who hails from Varanasi in UP, carries a reward of ₹1 lakh, said Rupnagar senior superintendent of police (SSP) Swapan Sharma while addressing mediapersons later in the day.

The gangster is wanted in 10 cases of murder, including a triple murder in Mirzapur (UP), and six cases under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986. He is also the kingpin of a gang involved in around 20 cases of murder, extortion and kidnapping in Delhi and UP, said the SSP. Most of these crimes involve contract killing and inter-gang rivalry.

The SSP said many members of Pandit’s gang are already lodged in jails of Delhi and UP. However, Pandit had been hiding in safe houses in Delhi, Jaipur and Mount Abu since he fled UP, and was returning to Delhi from Chintpurni in Himachal Pradesh on his motorcycle, when he was apprehended by Punjab Police.

The SSP said Pandit committed his first murder at the age of 16 and was kept in a juvenile home twice for a period of three years each. Initial investigations reveal the gangster was running his criminal operations from behind the bars as well.