Punjab Police has arrested two of the main accusedin the sensational killing of CIA Assistant Sub Inspectors (ASIs), BhagwanSingh and Dalwinderjit Singh, who were gunned down in cold blood in JagraonGrain Market on May 15.
The suspects, Baljinder Singh @ Babbi, a resident ofMahla Khurd village, Moga, and Darshan Singh, a resident of Sahauli village inLudhiana District, who were carrying rewards of Rs two lakhs each on theirheads, are associates of gangster and drug smuggler, Jaipal Bhullar,and they were nabbed from Dabra in Gwalior (MP) on Friday evening. Anotherassociate of theirs, Harcharan Singh, who had allegedly given shelter to them,was also arrested.
Giving details of the investigations, DGP DinkarGupta said preliminary questioning of the suspects has revealed that on thefateful day while Baljinder had come to Jagraon Grain Market in his Cantervehicle for providing safe transportation to Jaipal and Jassi to a hideoutoutside the state, Darshan had met them there with some clothes for thegangster and his associate. Gupta said the two CIA ASIs, who were on duty, gotsuspicious after seeing some drugs in the Canter vehicle and they confrontedthe driver.
An apparently cornered Darshan opened fire at theASIs from his 0.32 revolver and later fled the scene, alongwith Jaipal and Jassi, in their I-10 Hyundai car. Babbi, who fled inthe spot in the Canter vehcile, joined the others after some distance and theyall fled towards Haryana and Rajasthan.
Gupta said during investigations, intelligenceinputs were received that the suspects could be in hiding in and aroundGwalior, Madhya Pradesh. A team from the Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU),led by Inspector Pushpinder Singh, was immediately despatched to Madhya Pradeshfor further investigations. He said after painstaking investigations for a fewdays, the OCCU team managed to track the suspects and arrested them from aplatform at Dabra Railway station near Gwalior last evening. The suspects wereplanning to board a train to Maharashtra, Gupta said.
Gupta said the arrested duo has a criminal past andboth of them had been convicted in two different murder cases earlier. In factthey had come in contact with each other while undergoing their conviction injail. While Darshan was granted remission while undergoing his sentence,Baljinder Singh had been released on bail by the High court after hisconviction by the Sessions court, Moga. Darshan reportedly has two morecriminal cases registered against him and was recently also involved insmuggling of opium.
The DGP said Jaipal Bhullar is one of the fewgangsters who has managed to elude arrest so far. While he remains at large,his close associate, Gavi, was arrested by Punjab Police from Jamshedpur lastmonth. Gavi was wanted in the case of recovery of 11 kg heroin inJalandhar district.
Both Jaipal and Gavi have close links with drugsmugglers based in Pakistan and Jammu. Another associate of theirs, Jaspreet@Jassi, who is also absconding after the Jagraon shootout, wasearlier arrested in a case of smuggling of heroin in Mohali and isalso wanted in a case of kidnapping.
Gupta said a massive manhunt is still on for theabsconding suspects and he was confident that they too would be arrested soon.He reiterated that the supreme sacrifice of the two brave hearts ASIs will notgo in vain and the force was committed to get all the accused. He said rewardsof Rs 10 lakhs and Rs five lakhs have been announced for the arrest of Jaipal Bhullarand Jaspreet @ Jassi Baba, respectively.