Police failed to arrest suspect involved in 2017 Banur heist

Tribune News Service

Advertisement

Patiala, May 16

Failure to nab gangster Jaipal Singh, whose name first figured in the May 2017 Banur robbery case in which in which six armed men fired gunshots and escaped with Rs 1.33 crore after wounding a guard, has cost the state police dear. On Saturday, the police alleged Jaipal along with aides were behind the killing of two ASIs in Jagraon.

Sources say for the past four years, the Banur police have failed to conduct any major raid to arrest Jaipal, despite the fact that his close associate Tirath Singh Dhilwan, also involved in the Banur case, was arrested by the Khanna police in 2018. “The Banur police tried to nab the accused for the first few months, but the case was later transferred to the Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU),” said a source.

A senior police officer said all cases related to Jaipal and gangsters were transferred to the OCCU, but the district units shouldn’t have halted their investigations. “In the recent past, whenever any crime by a gangster happens, all that districts do is inform the OCCU after a preliminary probe. We will look into this aspect,” said the officer.

During his arrest in Khanna, Dhilwan, an “A-category” gangster, revealed Jaipal had planned the robbery and involved him and another gangster Kaka Bhalwan.

“Jaipal kept the maximum booty and gave Rs 20 lakh to the others involved. Dhilwan carried a reward of Rs 2 lakh on his head,” said a top police officer who had questioned him in 2018.

An official privy to probe into the Jagraon incident said Jaipal’s movement was traced a day before the crime near Khanna and police from Ludhiana and other districts were in the know of his possible movement. “We knew he was roaming in this belt, but we couldn’t imagine he would do something like this,” said a senior police officer.

Jaipal was a close associate of gangsters Vicky Gounder and Prema Lahoria who were killed in a police encounter in 2018 and was also wanted by the police for his alleged involvement in the murder of rival gangster Sukha Kahlwan in 2015 and Jaswinder Singh Rocky in 2016.

Banur SHO Balwinder Singh said the challan had already been presented and Jaipal was an absconder in the robbery case. “He is yet to be arrested,” he said.