Sidhu Moosewala killing: Cops who cracked gangsters' network

Tribune News Service

Jupinderjit Singh

Chandigarh, July 14

The Special Commissioner of Police (CP), Delhi, Hargobinder Singh Dhaliwal (HGS as he is famously called), has become the face of the police response to gangsters and shooters, who created quite a scare by gunning down Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala.

In Punjab, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Pramod Ban, who heads the Anti-Gangster Task Force, and Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Gurmeet Chauhan, member of the special investigation team probing the singer’s murder case, led the operation.

An alumnus of Panjab University (PU) and 1997-batch IPS officer, Dhaliwal led several teams of 400 police personnel in a pan-India operation. He was the first one to identify the shooters and arrest them.

HGS Dhaliwal, Special CP, Delhi

• Led several teams of 400 cops in a pan-India operation
• Was the first one to identify the shooters and arrest them

Pramod Ban, ADGP, Punjab

• Heads the Anti-Gangster Task Force and has led counter-terrorism ops
• His team established the role of shooter Priyavrat Fauji in the singer’s murder case

Gurmeet Chauhan, AIG

• Known as encyclopaedia of gangsters
• Member of the Anti-Gangster Task Force and the special investigation team probing the singer’s murder case

Apart from the use of cutting-edge technology to analyse call dumps, Internet and phone applications used by the accused, his team obtained information from several jails, informers and rival gangs. It is for the first time that the Delhi Police have so actively and swiftly worked on a criminal case of Punjab.

“We couldn’t visit the crime spot or examine the body and bullets. We had to undertake this challenging detection with a lot of handicaps due to our sheer distance from the Scene of Crime as we wanted to ensured that our efforts are complimentary to the investigating agency and none of our action in any way interfered with action of local police. We analysed the videos of the crime scene posted on social media. The biggest break came when our teams, based on the technical probe, shortlisted eight suspects. Of them, three proved correct and led to the cracking of the case,” the Special CP added.

During his university days, Dhaliwal closely watched the growth of student politics and the advent of Dimpy Chandbhan, the first gangster of post-terrorism Punjab. He did his masters in English, followed by MBA and a degree in law from the PU in 1990s. Notably, the PU has often been in the news for being a breeding ground for gangsters, including Jaswinder Singh ‘Rocky’ and Lawrence Bishnoi. It turned out to be poetic justice that the IPS officer who busted the gangs was also a product of the same institution.

Also, most of the gangsters in modern Punjab — Bishnoi, Goldy Brar, Vicky Gounder and Gurpreet Sekhon — belong to the Malwa region. Dhaliwal too hails from the same region and understands the hyper-masculinity, gun culture and the rivalry between gangs as well as their working. “The knowledge of the area, its culture and the language (Punjabi) was an added advantage,” he said.

However, he was later posted as the SP (Operations), Chandigarh, where he busted more gangs. Dhaliwal has also had a stint in Arunachal Pradesh before April this year, when he was handpicked by the Delhi Director General of Police, RK Asthana, to head the Special Operation Cell and the Anti-Terror Squad.

Meanwhile, Punjab ADGP Ban has handled several sensitive operations and led from the front in the arrest or elimination of several gangsters, besides solving some kidnappings in Ludhiana. He has even carried out counter-terrorism and anti-smuggling operations near the International Border. It was his team that was able to establish the role of shooter Priyavrat Fauji in the singer’s murder case. “The gangsters feed on misplaced following of the masses,” the ADGP said.

Known as an encyclopaedia of gangsters, AIG Chauhan has been involved in almost all operations against gangs in Punjab for the past five to seven years. He is referred to as the ‘go-to’ officer for any information on gangs, their modus operandi, their network or members. He even has details on the chain of murders committed by the rival gangs against each other on his fingertips.

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#lawrence bishnoi #sidhu moosewala