Landa gang operatives held for extortion bid sent to police custody

Three operatives of gangster-turned-terrorist Lakhbir Singh Landa Harike were produced in court on Wednesday. The court sent them to four-day police remand for further interrogation.

The trio was identified as Jagroop Singh alias Charna, Jugraj Singh alias Gazi and Shamsher Singh alias Shera, all residents of Talwandi Mohar Singh in Patti, Tarn Taran.

Jagroop was injured in the firing when he tried to flee from police custody late last evening.

The police received a tip-off that Landa Harike and his associates based abroad were using their local operatives in Punjab to obtain the phone numbers of prominent businessmen and later target them for extortion.

Recently, a local trader had received an extortion call in the name of Landa. He received a voice message and multiple threat messages from the accused.

Investigating the case, the CIA staff arrested the three accused. They had conducted a recce of the victim and sent photos of his office and vehicles to Jarnail Singh, a resident of Talwandi Mohar Singh, currently residing in Australia. Jarnail Singh is the brother of Rajwinder Singh alias Raza, who was killed in a gang war near Patti some time ago.

Jagroop’s disclosure lead to the recovery of a .32 bore pistol and two live cartridges from him.

While returning to Chheharta police station after the recovery, Jagroop said he was feeling dizzy. As he was brought out of the car, he allegedly attempted to grab a cop’s service pistol and escape from spot.

Vinod Kumar, SHO, Chheharta police station, said to prevent his escape and protect the police force, he fired a shot from his service pistol which hit Jagroop Singh Charna in his right leg.