Most wanted drug smuggler and gangster, Jaipal SinghBhullar s/o Bhupinder Singh r/o Ferozepur and Jaspreet Singh @ Jassi s/oRavinder Singh r/o Kharar, SAS Nagar, who had rewards of 10 Lakh and 5 Lakhrupees on their head have been neutralized by the STF West Bengal Police onWednesday afternoon, after they fired on the STF Police party, when they raidedtheir apartment.
Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Dinkar Gupta,while addressing press conference, said that both the gangsters-turned- drugsmugglers were wanted in the killing of two ASIs Bhagwan Singh and DalwinderjitSingh of Jagraon Police at grain market, Jagraon on May 15, 2021 evening.
Notably, Jaipal had earlier snatched a 9mm Pistol from anASI Sukhdev Singh of Khanna Police on the evening of May 10, 2021, when he wasdeployed at a naka on GT road near Doraha. In this connection, Punjab Policehad earlier arrested Darshan Singh and Baljinder Singh @ Babbi from Gwalior onMay 28, 2021.
The DGP said that Punjab Police launched a massive operationcode named OP-Jack manhunt and for nabbing the absconding drug smugglers,Jaipal Bhullar and Jaspreet Singh and many police teams were dispatched tovarious states to nab these gangsters with the help of other state policeforces.
He said that the Punjab Police arrested today BharatKumar r/o Sahnewal, Ludhiana from near Shambhu Border in Rajpura area andrecovered one .30 bore Pistol, along with a Honda Accord vehicle, bearingregistration number WB02R4500 by the team. Bharat, a close accomplice of JaipalBhullar, who was providing logistic support to Jaipal in Gwalior area of MPafter Jaipal and Jassi had fled from Punjab.
DGP Dinkar Gupta said that Bharat revealed that bothJaipal and Jassi were holed up in a rented apartment in Kolkata. “Punjab Policeimmediately dispatched a special team for Kolkata by flight. In the meantime, wealso coordinated with Kolkata Police to share pinpointed inputs regarding theircurrent hideout for the arrest of these two most wanted drug smugglers,” hesaid.
The DGP said that a senior police officer from Kolkatapolice informed later in the afternoon that both the criminals had been killedin retaliatory firing by STF Kolkata in which one of their Police inspectorshad also sustained bullet injuries.
“I am grateful to West Bengal Police, especially the ADGP& STF Chief of West Bengal, Mr. Vineet Goyal, IPS, who acted immediately oninputs provided by the Punjab Police and organised a raid at the Kolkataapartment where Jaipal was holed up alongwith his associate, Jassi,” said DGPDinkar Gupta.
According to the information, Jaipal was absconding since2014 and during all these years, he had committed many heinous crimes and waswanted in more than 25 sensational criminal cases. He was presently involved insmuggling of drugs from across the border in close collaboration with majordrug smugglers based in Pakistan.
When Shera Khuban was shot dead in a police encounter in2012, Jaipal suspected that Rocky had leaked information about Shera Khuban tothe police. Therefore, in 2016, Jaipal murdered Jaswinder Singh @ Rocky nearSolan. Jaipal took the responsibility of Rocky murder on FB and declared it asthe revenge of Shera Khuban encounter. In 2017, Jaipal looted Rs 1.3 cr from acash van on Chandigarh–Patiala Highway near Chitkara University and Rs 35 lakhsfrom an ATM loading van in Ropar. In 2020, Jaipal carried out a dacoity inwhich he looted about 33 kg gold from Ludhiana. On 15.05.2021, Jaipal and hisassociates had shot dead two Punjab Police ASIs in Jagraon.
While, Japreet Singh @ Jassi, s/o Ravinder Singh, r/oKharar was involved in atleast 4 criminal cases, including the killing of twoASIs at Jagraon. He was a close accomplice of Jaipal, alongwith Darshan Singhand Baljinder Singh @ Babbi from Gwalior on 28th May, 2021.
The neutralization of Jaipal and his close associate inKolkata on Wednesday, and the arrest of 2 of his associates from Gwalior on May28, 2021 is a big blow to the heroin drug smuggling network, which is operatingfrom across the border.
DGP said that today’s operation was the culmination of:Painstaking follow-up work by dedicated team of officers of Internal Security(IS) Wing and OCCU and Close coordination between different police forces andthe central agencies