Amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a crime-free state launched on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Punjab Police have solved at least two firing incidents in the district Tarn Taran with the arrest of two associates of foreign-based gangster Prabhdeep Singh alias Prabh Dasuwal after a brief encounter took place at Valtoha in Tarn Taran, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Tuesday.
Those arrested have been identified as Karanpreet Singh alias Karan, a resident of village Toot in Tarn Taran and Gurlaljit Singh alias Laali, a resident of Village Bhangala in Tarn Taran. Police teams have also recovered one .32 bore pistol along with live cartridges and empty bullet shells from their possession, besides impounding their Honda Activa scooter, which they were riding.
As per the information, both the accused persons were running an extortion racket on the directions of their handler Prabh Dasuwal, who is associated with Ghanshyampuria gang and were involved in two firing incidents. The recent firing incident took place at a Medical Store in village Gharyala on January 1 this year and another firing incident took place at Valtoha wherein they targeted Arhtiya to demand extortion of Rs 20 lakh on December 2, 2024.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that following the incident, Tarn Taran Police has launched a special operation and acting on technical aspects and human intel identified both the accused persons involved in both the cases. Acting on the tip-off about the accused persons who were roaming in the area of Valtoha, a police team led by SP Investigation Ajayraj Singh, DSP Investigation Rajinder Minhas and DSP Bhikhiwind Preet Inder Singh followed the trail and managed to locate them at a Naaka in Valtoha, where both accused started firing at the police party, he said, while adding that the Police fired back in self-defence.
Sharing more details, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Tarn Taran Abhimanyu Rana said that accused Karanpreet and Gurlaljit sustained bullet injuries in retaliatory fire. Both accused Karan and Gurlaljit have been arrested and have been admitted to the hospital for medical treatment, he added.
He said that the accused Karanpreet has a criminal history and was wanted by the Punjab Police in different criminal cases. The SSP said that further investigations are on and raids are being conducted to nab absconding accused persons in both cases.
A case FIR no. 3 dated 07/01/2025 has been registered under sections 109, 132, 221 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and section 25 (6) (7) of the Arms Act at Police Station Valtoha.