‘Wanted’ gangster Romi arrested in Hong Kong

Aman Sood 

Tribune News Service

Patiala, February 23

With Nabha jailbreak mastermind Ramanjit Singh Romi, 29, being arrested in Hong Kong for his “role in a robbery,” the Punjab Government will send a formal request for his deportation through diplomatic channels.

The “international criminal”, who allegedly raised an empire in Hong  Kong through nefarious activities, already faces a Red Corner Notice. Punjab Police were informed about his arrest by the Interpol. Hailing from Bathinda’s Bangi Kalan village, he had been residing at Kowloon, Hong Kong. 

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Romi, it is believed, was the point man for coordination between Punjab gangsters and terrorists. After gangsters Vicky Gounder and Prema Lahoria were killed in an encounter recently, Punjab DGP Suresh Arora had said that Romi had helped Gounder procure an assault rifle and that he had masterminded the Nabha jailbreak by funding gangsters active in Punjab's Majha, Malwa and Doaba regions.

 Senior officials said Romi was the “communication link” between Punjab gangsters and ISI-backed Pakistan-based terrorists. He was working through WhatsApp and VoIP platforms. Romi had acted as a mediator between gangsters Dharmender Singh Gugni and Gounder, who were at loggerheads, transferred funds for terror activities and had a hand in targeted killings and kidnappings.

He may have been a conduit for Pakistan’s drug smugglers, said sources.

Gurmeet Chauhan, AIG, Organised Crime Control Unit, said Romi’s name had figured in the killing of RSS, Shiv Sena and Dera Sirsa men. “He had close links with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and was coordinating between terror groups and Punjab gangsters,” he claimed. 

  A senior police official said Romi came in touch with Jagtar Singh Johal alias Jaggi, a UK national and a “key conspirator” in the terror module that carried out targeted killings of Hindu leaders (in 2016-2017), including that of Brig Jagdish Gagneja in August 2016, through Harmeet Singh alias PHD, a KLF terrorist based in Pakistan.

“PHD had told Jagtar Singh that Dharminder Singh Gugni, a gangster lodged in Nabha jail, had arranged weapons for Ramandeep Rathore, one of the two motorcycle-borne assailants who carried out the killings. Jagtar spoke to Romi at least thrice between May-July 2017,” he added.