In a major breakthrough under the pre-poll drive against hardcore criminals, police arrested four members of an inter-state gang involved several cases of ATM thefts, vehicle snatching and contract killing from Jagjitpur village bus stand on Phagwara-Hoshiarpur road here.
The criminals were arrested yesterday during a joint police barricading by Jalandhar Zone police parties after a tip-off, Inspector General (IG), Jalandhar Zone-2, L K Yadav said here today.
A large cache of arms, ammunition, drugs, along with several vehicles were from them, he said.
The accused were identified as -- the gang's kingpin Kuldip Singh alias Bohra (kingpin), Nirmal Singh alias Nimma, Makhtool Singh and Malkiat Singh alias Keetu. Nimma is a proclaimed offender and wanted in a murder case, Yadav said.
While Makhtool hails from Amritsar district, the others belong to Firozpur district, he said.
The gangsters were booked under sections 399 (making preparation to commit dacoity), 402 (assembling for purpose of committing dacoity) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Arms Act and the NDPS Act, he added.
Five pistols, 3 rifles, 71 live cartridges, 6 snatched vehicles including 5 cars and a four-wheeler, 15 tools used for gas-cutting/breaking ATMs and 1 kg of smack were recovered from them, the IG said.
They are wanted in as many as 60 criminal cases including 35 of cutting/breaking of ATMs, 10 of vehicle snatching on highways, 3 of snatching of arms from security guards and 11 attempt to murder among others, Yadav said.
The murder attempts were done after taking "supari" (contract killing). The criminals also looted lakhs of rupees from people, he said.
The gangsters operated in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. They were lodged in jails in different cases and had jumped bail. The gang consists of 23 members, out of which 10 were lodged in prison, he said.
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