CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Police on Saturday arrested another member of the Dilpreet-Rinda gang, allegedly involved in the attack on well-known Punjabi singer Parmish Verma. This is the Punjab Police's second big arrest in about a month, since Dilpreet, who had also threatened the singer on Facebook, had been nabbed.
Wanted by the police of three states, Akash, a 21-year-old sharp shooter, was nabbed after a 9-kilometre chase that ended in an exchange of fire in Sighpura area of Rupnagar. A foreign-made mouser and bullets were recovered from his possession. A resident of Nanded Sahib, Maharashtra, he is wanted in five cases of murder and 13 cases of dacoity, robbery and the Arms Act, by the police of Maharashtra, Haryana and Punjab. In the world of organised crime since the age of 17, Akash had been in Punjab for the past few months.
Rupnagar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Swapan Sharma said no policeman was injured in the cross-firing, that took place when the gangster's SUV got stuck near a drain in Singhpura. When he was asked to stop, he opened fire on the police party, leading to the encounter.
The gangster sustained a bullet injury on his left shoulder in the operation that was led by the DSP and CIA 1 and CIA 2 of the Rupnagar Police following which he was taken to the local Civil Hospital. Reports suggest that Akash was a constant companion to Dilpreet and was his accomplice in the daring attack on the Punjabi singer in Mohali, along with many other cases, including broad daylight murders in different parts of the country.
Akash, who had been rallying the gang members to free Dilpreet Singh Dahal from police custody during court hearings Dilpreet's his arrest last month, had snatched a Fortuner vehicle from Anandpur Sahib at gunpoint on Friday. District Police was on red alert, keeping tabs at all vantage points and escape routes, and gave a hot chase to Akash, said Sharma. According to Sharma, Dilpreet's gang members had done a complete recce in the districts in which cases against him had been registered.
Sharma, who guided the operation, has been responsible for the arrest of several hard-core criminals during his police career, including Laurence Bishnoi and Davinder Bambiha. He took charge of Rupnagar Police three weeks ago.
In the first 15 months of the Congress government in Punjab, 922 members of various criminal gangs have been arrested and seven, including Vicky Gounder, Prema Loharia, Savinder Parbjot and Manna, have been neutralized.