CHANDIGARH/LUDHIANA, September 13:
In a major breakthrough against criminal networks as part of the ongoing drive to eliminate gangster culture in the state as per the vision of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, a joint team of the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) Punjab and Ludhiana Commissionerate Police on Sunday averted a mass shooting bid and neutralised two armed operatives belonging to the notorious Doni Bal gang during an encounter near Atam Park Under Bridge here.
Commissioner of Police (CP) Ludhiana Swapan Sharma has identified the deceased assailants as Karanjot Singh alias Nona and Sandeep Singh, both residents of Sultanwind Road, Amritsar. Police teams have recovered three sophisticated automatic pistols along with around 50 live cartridges from their possession.
Sharing operation details, the CP said that acting on precise intelligence inputs regarding a planned attack, joint teams laid a special naka at the Under Bridge near Atam Park and intercepted two suspects approaching on a black-coloured Hero Splendor motorcycle without a registration number. Upon being signaled to stop, the armed assailants attempted to flee and opened indiscriminate fire at the police personnel, he said.
“During the hot chase, the assailants continuously fired multiple shots at the joint police party, and two bullets hit the official police vehicle. Exercising retaliatory fire in self-defence, the police team neutralised both armed attackers on the spot,” said the CP.
CP Swapan Sharma revealed that preliminary investigations showed the neutralised assailants were directly in touch with gangster Doni Bal and Shaganpreet, and were tasked with orchestrating a mass shooting at a blood donation camp, organized at Marryland Palace on Dugri Road, Ludhiana on Sunday.
Sharing the criminal antecedents of the deceased, the CP stated that Karanjot Singh alias Nona was a history-sheeter facing two previous criminal cases registered under the Arms Act, Robbery, and the NDPS Act. The second deceased, Sandeep Singh, was also facing one criminal case.
He said that more accomplices of the neutralized individuals are being traced and will be nabbed soon. Further investigations are underway to establish backward and forward linkages of the gang, he added
In this regard, a case is being registered under sections 109, 221, 132, 62 and 111 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and section 25 Arms Act at Police Station Model Town in Ludhiana.
