Four members of robbers' gang arrested

Bathinda police have arrested four members of an inter-state gang of robbers, allegedly from the house of Akali sarpanch Harpal Kaur in Jagha Ram Tirath, Jumber Basti, Talwandi Sabo.

Bathinda police have arrested four members of an inter-state gang of robbers, allegedly from the house of Akali sarpanch Harpal Kaur in Jagha Ram Tirath, Jumber Basti, Talwandi Sabo.

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The sarpanch's husband, Harjinder Singh, is reportedly among the arrested. He is allegedly a general secretary of the SAD youth wing.

Jagsir Singh, Gurpreet Singh Sekhon, Ranjodh Singh Jodha have also been arrested and are also accused of attacking People's Party of Punjab (PPP) leader Lakhvir Singh Lakha Sidhana.

The arrested individuals are accused of dacoity, murder, supari killing, robberies, vehicle snatching (luxury cars mainly) and possession of illegal weapons. Eight firearms have been recovered from them.

SSP Ravcharn Singh Brar claimed that the Bathinda police started the operation to arrest the accused at around 4:30am on Thursday morning.

"Various teams were constituted headed by SP (detective) Naveen Singla, SP (operations) Bhupinder Singh and CIA In-charge Jagdeesh Kumar. The operation lasted more than five hours."

A Case FIR No. 207 dated03/10/2013 u/s 212, 216, 413, 420, 465, 467, 471 IPC & 25/54/59 Arms Act PS Talwandi Sabo has been registered.

He said that further investigations were likely to reveal their state-wide operatives/nexus with various criminals.

There are reports that Harjinder was allegedly close to several Akali leaders. Meanwhile, PPP chief Manpreet Singh Badal has lambasted the police inefficiency.