HC raises concern over gangster violence in and around Chandigarh
Court made the observation while rejecting anticipatory bail plea of an accused in a firing incident outside GMCH-32 in January this year
Taking a strong note of rising gangster culture in the tricity, the Punjab and Haryana high court observed that once known for academic achievements, the area is now being rapidly turned into a “hostile city”.
“..this court is perturbed over the manner in which such goons trotting with firearms pervade the tricity and gangsters have come to settle here, and such steep number of such incidents in the area is a strong circumstance for this court to take a strong view of the incident,” the bench of justice Fatehdeep Singh said, while rejecting anticipatory bail plea of an accused in a firing incident reported outside Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, in January this year.
The HC bench further added that the FIR’s content was strongly suggestive that the accused as well as the complainant side are young boys who have formed gangs and are trying to create an atmosphere of threat to society to lay their claim of supremacy and bravado.
THE CASE
Ludhiana resident Jagtar Singh, aka Jaggi, 23, had told police that on January 10, he and a friend, Samar Bhat, had come to GMCH to meet another friend, Lovepreet Singh of Model Town, Kharar, who was admitted there. The two were standing near the emergency when four to five men reportedly attacked them and fled after firing gunshots. A passerby was shot in the arm in this melee.
The incident was allegedly the result of Bhat’s standoff with the accused youths over a TikTok video. Police arrested Kamalpreet Singh Sidhu, 24, of Sunny Enclave, Kharar, on June 28,while Dilpreet Singh, alias Billa, 24, who had opened fire, was nabbed from Ropar in July. Three co-accused, including one Nishan Singh Khera, are yet to be arrested.
The HC order came on the plea of Khera, who allegedly owned the car used to flee from the spot. He had told court that neither he has been identified nor named in the FIR and nothing was to be recovered from him. He had also produced a compromise deed document effected by both parties in this case.
However, Chandigarh Police told court the two groups had a previous history of enmity and a number of skirmishes had taken place between them. Thus, rejecting the bail plea, the court said it has to invoke its extraordinary powers “sparingly” and the compromise effected in this case was to “stifle” the investigations.
A LOOK AT RECENT CASES
July 24: Gangster Navdeep Singh Navi of Moga injured and four aides arrested by Punjab Police after shootout in a Kharar locality where they had been putting up
June 2:10 bullets fired injuring four people at a liquor shop in Sector 9 by two shooters associated with Lawrence Bishnoi gang
May 31: Shooters open fire outside a businessman’s house in Sector 33 on Bishnoi’s orders
April 26: Police nab four men associated with Bhupi Rana gang after a fierce gunfight at a house where they were staying at Billa village in Chandimandir, Panchkula
March 3: A former Punjab cop’s son, Harry Bajwa, arrested for allegedly harbouring three gangsters for over two months at a rented accommodation in Sector 40, Chandigarh