DW BUREAU / CHANDIGARH

An interstate organised crime syndicate was busted with the arrest of its kingpin and four members from a flat in Mohali's Kharar, the Punjab Police's top official said on Monday. The syndicate kingpin was identified as Jai Sharma alias Sukha Pistol Ambarsarya of Prem Nagar in Amritsar, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said.

The four members are Nikhil Sharma alias Lala of Sandhu Colony in Amritsar, Moni of Kot Khalsa in Amritsar, and Arpit Thakur and Karan Sharma of Bilaspur district in Himachal Pradesh. Sukha Pistol has seven cases pertaining to the Arms Act, snatching and theft registered against him, Yadav said.

The police also seized two .32 bore pistols, three magazines and eight live rounds from them.

DGP Yadav said police teams from Amritsar kept a vigil on the syndicate's movement following reliable input that Sukha Pistol and his accomplices had gone to Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh to illegally procure weapons.

After they returned to Punjab, the police traced their location in Kharar and conducted a raid in a flat, arresting the accused and seizing the arms and ammunition, Yadav said.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused were planning to attack members of a rival gang, the police chief added.

They have been booked under Section 111 (organised crime) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, he said.

Police Commissioner (Amritsar) Ranjit Singh Dhillon said the syndicate was engaged in theft, snatching and arms trafficking. Further investigation is underway to trace the forward and backward linkages of the module and identify the Madhya Pradesh-based arm smugglers.

More arrests and recoveries are expected, Dhillon said.
(editor@dailyworld.in)