Patiala, January 28: Two days after gangster Vicky Gounder, the brain behind the November 2016 Nabha jailbreak, and his accomplice Prema Lahoria were killed in “Operation Daybreak” in Sriganganagar’s Pakki village on the Rajasthan-Punjab border, police teams have found certain material that could shed light on their sponsors ever since they fled the jail.
The police fear that with Gounder dead, a war for supremacy may break out among various gangs in Punjab. “We are focusing on social media accounts and threats issued by gangsters to the police and to one another,” said a top officer.
Sources said six cellphones, diaries and drugs had been found at the gangsters’ hideout. “The diaries are crucial as these contain encoded phone numbers and possibly maps of hideouts,” said a top official.
DGP (Intelligence) Dinkar Gupta said their prime focus was to ensure that those who had harboured the gangsters were brought to justice.
Sources said to get the cellphones and diaries, Punjab Police would have to approach the courts since a case regarding the encounter has been filed in Rajasthan.
Initial investigations suggest that procuring weapons was no problem for these gangsters, who had links in Uttar Pradesh as well as Pakistan. “We are investigating whether they were also involved in the drug trade,” AIG Gurmeet Chauhan of the Organised Crime Control Unit said. “To trace the money chain, we need to arrest Ramanjit Singh, alias Romi, the mastermind who is in Hong Kong,” he added.
