Extortion racket member injured in police encounter

Amandeep Singh, a member of the extortion racket busted two days ago, was injured in a police encounter near the Amritsar-Attari bypass road here on Saturday. He was taken to the spot for recovery of weapon.

He was injured in the leg and was admitted to hospital for treatment and a fresh case has been registered against him.

Amandeep was one of the shooters who had fired outside an under-construction banquet hall of a businessman for extortion.

Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the police had earlier arrested four members of the gang. Apart from Amandeep Singh of Saidoke village, the police had arrested Simratpal Singh of Saidoke village in Mehta, Harpreet Singh, alias Happy, of Bhaini Miyan Khan village in Gurdaspur and Simratpal Singh, alias Simran, of Rampura village in case. Harpreet was also arrested following a brief encounter near the Company Bagh two days ago.

He said on Saturday that following disclosure, Amandeep was taken to the spot for recovery of a .30 bore pistol. He said while the cops were busy in documentation, the accused tried to flee from the scene after snatching the pistol of ASI Amrik Singh who entered into a scuffle with him in order to get the weapon back. During this, one bullet hit Amandeep’s right leg leaving him injured. He was taken to hospital for medical care.

A fresh FIR was registered against Amandeep at the Sadar police station in this regard.

Apart from them, the police have also nominated their Spain-based accomplice Sukhdev Singh, who originally hails from Rampura village and is brother of Simratpal Singh. He was making the threatening extortion calls to a local businessman. They used to identify their potential targets.

They were using the name of notorious gangster Bony Bal for extortion, said Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar.