Punjab: Youngsters continue to be lured into crime, courtesy social media

The recent arrest of two residents of Chamkaur Sahib after an encounter in Patiala paints a grim picture of the rising crime in Punjab as both youngsters were school dropouts.Davinder Singh and Anuj Kumar, both in their early 20s, are said to have fired shots at the house of Darshan Singh in Gaddo-Majra, Rajpura, on December 13 on the instructions of gangster Goldy Dhillon.“The elderly victim suffered a bullet injury in the attack and we arrested them last week. Both suffered injuries after cops fired at them in self-defence,” said Senior Superintendent of Police, Patiala, Varun Sharma.“Both men were recruited using a social media account and the accused did not even know that they were part of an extortion racket where the gangsters sitting abroad paid them merely a few thousand rupees for the crime for which they will now be behind bars for a long time,” said the SSP.Social media accounts promoting gun culture and gangster swag are not new. But their recent proliferation into luring gullible youngsters into the world of crime, often recruiting them for crimes like murder and extortions, is worrying, say police officials.Gangsters use platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) to propagate their activities, claim responsibility for crimes like murder and display a false sense of power. “Even when traced, the accounts are operated from many countries and use teenaged boys for a crime and once the task is carried out, the account operator goes dormant for a while. In case the teenager escapes arrest, another assignment is given to him and money is paid,” a police official said.“The gang members continue to scroll accounts and whenever they find a suitable profile of a youngster who wants to avenge an insult, or is actively liking or sharing gangster-related profiles, he is approached with money and weapons,” SSP Sharma said, adding, “The gangsters continue to play with young minds online and get them to carry out serious crimes. Even parents are unaware in most cases, while friends get involved too.”Recent encounters in many districts of Punjab point to the active involvement of teenaged boys, and even minors who were contacted online.Notorious shooter Karan Pathak — alias Karan Defaulter — was killed in a police encounter on Saturday morning near Kharar in Mohali district. The 23-year-old, a resident of Amritsar with links to Uttar Pradesh, was the key accused and the main shooter in the high-profile murder of kabaddi promoter and player Rana Balachauria (Kanwar Digvijay Singh). “Initial probe revealed his online connections, though thorough probe is needed,” said a senior officer.“It is a serious trend that school dropouts are often lured through social media sites and even paid and supplied weapons through online information and sleeper cells. In a majority of cases, these kids don’t understand the repercussions of carrying out such attacks,” said DIG Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, known for his contribution to containing organised crime."Security agencies have already blocked over 10,000 social media handles and accounts in the past over five years for nefarious activities. The youngsters are often not afraid to fire indiscriminately at police parties when confronted and that, too, for a few thousand rupees," said DSP Bikramjit Singh Brar, who has led many successful police encounters against organised crime.“A clinical fact-based study by psychologists and sociology scholars can be helpful, while parents need to be more careful about their children”, said Sangrur SSP Sartaj Chahal.

Punjab: Youngsters continue to be lured into crime, courtesy social media

Heart of Punjab: Social media accounts promoting gun culture and gangster swag are not new. But their recent proliferation into luring gullible youngsters into the world of crime, often recruiting them for crimes like murder and extortions, is worrying, say police officials

Aman Sood

Punjab: Youngsters continue to be lured into crime, courtesy social media

Heart of Punjab: Social media accounts promoting gun culture and gangster swag are not new. But their recent proliferation into luring gullible youngsters into the world of crime, often recruiting them for crimes like murder and extortions, is worrying, say police officials

Aman Sood

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