Drug smugglers, terrorists & gangsters posed major challenge
The assassination bid on SAD chief Sukhbir Badal, eight blasts targeting police installations, a bullet-for-bullet strategy for gangsters, dismissal and suspension of cops for facilitating Lawrence Bishnoi’s TV interview from custody were the high points of 2024 on the law and order front in the state.
A nexus among drug smugglers, terrorists and gangsters in partnership with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, which lured addicts and unemployed youth into the world of crime, with some of them going to the extent of executing terror strikes, has emerged as a big challenge for the authorities.
The police busted 13 modules of terrorists this year, as was the case last year. However, the presence of a syndicate involving smugglers and gangsters in these modules posed a big challenge to the law enforcing agencies. The district police and the counter-intelligence unit of the state police maintained a special focus on this aspect.
“We face an onslaught of terrorism, drugs and gangsters from agencies across the border and those operating from the USA, Canada and Europe. The state police have prevented many a crime and solved all major incidents,” said DGP Gaurav Yadav.
The police have busted around 200 modules of gangsters by November-end this year (December data not available). The number was 188 last year. The police arrested 559 gangsters this year compared to 482 last year. Encounters with gangsters increased to 64 from 60 with 56 gangsters suffering bullet injuries compared to 32 last year.
At the same time, gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s attracted global attention over his alleged involvement in the killing of alleged terrorist Hardeep Nijjar in Canada, besides politician-turned-realtor Baba Siddique’s murder in Mumbai.
Gursher Singh Sandhu, a 2016-batch Punjab Police Service (PPS) officer, faces dismissal from the service for his alleged role in facilitating the interview. Six others, including a DSP rank officer, were suspended. However, action is awaited against other senior officials who have been served show-cause notices.
The assassination bid on Sukhbir Badal near the entrance of the Golden Temple in Amritsar was the main security breach incident involving a top political leader, since the assassination of Chief Minister Beant Singh in August 1995.
Though leaders belonging to a particular community have been targeted, an attempt to kill Sukhbir Singh Badal was the first incident targeting a Sikh leader, who also remained a Deputy Chief Minister of the state.
Rape incidents have decreased, while cases of murder, kidnapping, robbery and dacoity saw an upward trend. In all, 986 cases of rape were reported in the state this year, while the number was 1,065 in 2023.
