Punjab: Gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria's aide arrested from Batala
The Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) Punjab has arrested a close aide of gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria in connection with the shootout that took place at Ghuman in Batala, director general of police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav said on Sunday.
The arrested accused has been identified as Nilson Massih alias Sunny, a resident of village Athwal in Gurdaspur. He has a criminal history and is facing at least seven criminal cases, including charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery, snatching and violations of the Arms Act.
The shootout, which occurred on the evening of May 26 outside a petrol pump located on Ghuman-Shri Hargobindpur road, resulted in the death of Gurpreet Singh Gora alias Gora Bariar. Billa Mandiala had sustained injuries in the shooting.
According to DGP Yadav, preliminary interrogation revealed that Massih was in contact with gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria. 'Acting on Bhagwanpuria's directions, Massih orchestrated the murder of Gora Bariar. Massih, along with his three associates, had carried out this attack,' the DGP said.
Sharing operational details, additional director general of police (ADGP) AGTF Promod Ban said that acting on a tip-off regarding Massih's presence in Batala jurisdiction, AGTF teams under the supervision of DSP Rajan Parminder, along with Batala Police, launched the operation and arrested him from Qadian-Batala road near village Shahbad.
Further investigations are underway to establish forward and backward linkages in the case, the ADGP added.
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SP FOUND WANTING IN EXERCISING RESPONSIBILITIES The note said that the then Mohali SP (detective), Amandeep Singh Brar, failed in exercising effective supervisory control over the activities of DSP Sandhu and other staff of CIA, Kharar. 'As per his own admission, it was only on 1-2 occasions that he personally checked the security arrangements at CIA, Kharar, during the night hours, during the entire custody period of Lawrence Bishnoi at that premises. Thus, he was totally ignorant of the ground position about camp commanders not maintaining their presence at CIA, Kharar, during the night hours. This resulted in a total failure on his part in reporting the matter to his SSP so that corrective measures could have been taken. He was an SP-rank officer senior to all officials deployed from various wings/units and all camp commanders were DSP-rank officers. As SP (D), he was the senior supervisory officer of CIA premises. Thus, he was in a position to clear any difficulty/issue in discharge of duties, but he remained totally passive and found wanting in exercising his official responsibilities,' reads the note on Brar. KHANNA CIA IN-CHARGE, IO WENT TO JALANDHAR ➤ The note has also detailed how inspector Shiv Kumar and subinspector (SI) Reena, who was the inquiry officer (IO), dodged duty. 'As per the analysis of CDRs and IPDRS, SI Reena, along with in-charge CIA Inspector Shiv Kumar, had left for Jalandhar in the evening of Sept 3, 2022, without obtaining leave or station leave from competent authority, and returned to Kharar only on Sept 4, 2022, at 10.50am, thus abstaining from the station of her official duty unauthorizedly,' the note said ➤ The note said by doing this inspector Shiv Kumar unauthorizedly abstained from the station of his official duty, despite knowing that a known gangster was undergoing police remand in the lockup of CIA, Kharar, under elaborate security arrangements ➤ It pointed out that even though the inspector was absent, he got a daily diary entry fabricated at 11pm on Sept 3, 2022, through head constable (local rank) Om Parkash to show his presence at the station for recording the physical checking of CIA, Kharar, by DSP Sandhu DISMISSED 'DSP GURSHER SANDHU ACTIVELY FACILITATED INTERVIEW THROUGH PERSONAL PRESENCE' The note says since-dismissed DSP Gursher Sandhu, who was the immediate supervisory gazetted officer of CIA, Kharar, 'actively facilitated the recording of Bishnoi TV interview'. Describing at length his presence at CIA Kharar and his movement on the fateful night, while citing CDR/IPDR of his mobile phone, the note said it was established that Sandhu 'through his personal presence at CIA, Kharar... actively facilitated the recording of the interview in question'. The note says though DSP Sandhu was assigned nightchecking duties for the entire district from 10pm on Sept 3, 2022, to 2am on Sept 4, 2022, his presence could only be found in the daily diary of CIA, Kharar, and no other police station in the district. 'Moreover, CDR/IPDR analysis of his mobile phone does not indicate his movement anywhere in the areas of other police stations of district SAS Nagar during the said period, which should have been there, if he was actually performing the duties of night checking officer,' read the report. Acting on a plea by Sandhu, where he said he was being made a scapegoat and sought directions for calling the record of the FIR registered against him and others for facilitating Bishnoi's TV interview, the Punjab and Haryana high court recently directed Punjab Police to give details of all security arrangements made for Bishnoi during his custody at CIA, Kharar. The counsel representing Sandhu submitted in the court that Bishnoi was held under a three-tier security of AGTF, SOG and CIA, in which the petitioner was the local DSP and had no access to the detenue. The self-contained note pointing to misconduct, negligence and dereliction of duty was submitted by special DGP Kumar in Punjab and Haryana high court in Oct last year and is part of the ongoing proceedings in the petition moved by DSP Sandhu.
