Kolkata, June 9: Two Punjab-based most-wanted gangsters were on Wednesday gunned down amidst a shootout at a residential complex in New Town in Kolkata, West Bengal. No official statement from Punjab Police has been released in this regard yet.
A team of STF raided a residential complex in New Town in Kolkata where the two dreaded wanted criminals from Punjab were hiding. In the shootout, both the criminals were gunned down by STF.
According to reports, Jaipal Singh Bhullar wanted in connection with the killing of two assistant sub-inspectors in Jagraon, was among the two people killed in the encounter. He was wanted in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh for over 40 cases related to robbery, murder, extortion, kidnapping among others. However, details regarding the two are yet to be shared by the police.
In July 2004, they carried out the sensational kidnapping of seven-year-old Chirag, son of a cinema-hall owner in Ludhiana. After his arrest, he came in touch with other gangsters in jail.
Jaipal became especially close to Rajiv alias Raja when the latter landed there in 2006 for loot and murder of three Ludhiana jewelers. Jaipal and Raja teamed up and also became partners in crime with notorious and infamous gangster Shera Khubban.
In January 2009, both helped Raja flee from police custody at the Barnala bus stand. They robbed a gun house in Hoshiarpur, looted money from banks in Panchkula and Mohali; robbed a Chandigarh businessman and a BJP leader in Panchkula; and jacked several flashy cars on the highways.
In June 2009, Raja and some of the gang members were arrested by the Panchkula police. A month later, Jaipal and his team were arrested by the Chandigarh Police. They were taken on production warrants to 27 police stations in Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi.
But, in most cases, they were acquitted with witnesses reluctant to speak up. In other cases, they got bail. During their time in Chandigarh’s Burail jail, Jaipal and his gang came in touch with Fazilka’s Rocky. They formed a new gang but developed differences.
Jaipal and his men were acquitted by a Chandigarh court in July 2010. Along with Shera Khubban and another gangster, Gurpreet Sekhon ran a dominating gang that also smuggled drugs now.
Meanwhile, Rocky entered politics and it was alleged he helped cops arrest or kill a number of gangsters. Jaipal’s gang was allegedly behind the murder of gangster Sukha Kahlon (Kahlwan), too, in January 2015.
He had masterminded May 2, 2017, Banur van robbery with Tirath Dhilwan, an ‘A-category’ gangster, in which six armed men fired gunshots and escaped with Rs 1.33 crore. Jaipal kept the maximum booty with himself and gave away only Rs 20 lakh to the others involved with him.
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He meticulously planned and monitored the February 17, 2020 robbery of 30kg gold from a branch of India Infoline Finance Limited (IIFL) in Ludhiana.
Jaipal was waiting in the car as his accomplices took the IIFL staff at gunpoint and returned with 30kg of gold before they fled.
