Himachal's BBN belt bordering Punjab vulnerable to gangsters

Ambika Sharma

Solan, September 4

Inter-state gangsters seem to be operating fearlessly in the bordering industrial belt of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) as their involvement in various crimes is regularly coming to the fore. The lack of preparedness of the BBN police to deal with such gangsters came to light again when an armed assailant escaped after firing at an undertrial outside a Nalagarh court on Monday.

He was an accused in the shoot-out which had taken place on the Baddi-Nalagarh highway on May 24, 2021 to control nefarious drug trade.

He was among the two other gangsters arrested by the Mohali police for the murder of Youth Akali Dal leader Vikramjeet Middukhera, which had taken place at Mohali in August 2021. Not only this, a Baddi trader had recently received a ransom call from a Punjab gangster whose name had cropped up in the Sidhu Moosewala murder case. Little had been done by the police to undertake activities like area dominance to step up surveillance during such court hearings.

Involvement of gangsters in criminal activities such as extortion has been coming to the fore every now and then in the BBN area.

In April 2018, the Mohali police had arrested a youth from Gullerwala village in Baddi for his alleged involvement in the shooting at Punjabi singer Parmish Verma. Gangster Dilpreet Singh had claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Baddi police had also arrested another Punjab gangster Gagandeep Lahoria for a firing case in September 2020. Not only this, armed assailants had fired at a scrap dealer in Nalagarh in a bid to secure ransom. The spillover of the gang culture in Punjab is often visible in the Nalagarh area where places such as Jogo, Bagheri and Dheerowal, which share border with Ropar in Punjab, are often used as hideouts by these gangsters.

The Nalagarh court had to shift the hearing of a murder case, which took place at Bagheri inter-state barrier, to Solan a few years ago as miscreants armed with swords had entered the court complex during its hearing. Ten people were awarded life imprisonment in the case. Baddi SP Mohit Chawla said a request would be made for conducting hearing of the Khera firing case through video conferencing given the threat perception to the accused.