punjab

Updated: Feb 14, 2017 10:27 IST

Vicky Gounder, one of the six criminals who fled the high security Nabha jail in November last, had a lucky escape on Sunday when mastermind Gurpreet Singh Sekhon was arrested.

Sources said he had left the house, from where Sekhon and three others were nabbed, hours before the Punjab counter-intelligence team (PCIT) and police teams from Moga and Patiala cordoned off the area, at Dhudike village in Moga district.

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Gounder, whose real name is Harjinder Singh Bhullar, is a resident of Ferozepur and a prime suspect in the January 2015 murder of gangster Sukhbir Singh alias Sukha Kahlwan. He is now one of the three escapees who remain to rearrested. He was originally part of the gang started by Jaipal Singh that executed a number of highway robberies and murders.

Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, assistant inspector general (AIG), PCIT, when asked about it, said, “Yes, we have traced movement of Gounder in around the area, and he had also visited the house.”

Sources said the men often stayed at the house, owned by a non-resident Indian, Kultar Singh Goldy, who is still absconding.

OWNER OF HOUSE IS AN AAP SUPPORTER

Goldy, who had come to India in January from Australia, is a supporter of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and had organised several rallies in support the AAP’s Nihalsinghwala segment candidate Manjit Singh Bilaspur ahead of the February 4 assembly polls, results of which are to be out on March 11. His social media accounts also have several posts professing support to the AAP and seeking votes.

Jasdeep Singh Garry, Dhudike’s sarpanch who is also an AAP worker, identified Goldy as an NRI AAP worker. “But Goldy is not that kind of person! There is no criminal case on him. I feel he must have been misused by someone,” he said.

AIG Chauhan, however, said Goldy “must have links with the accused persons as they often stayed at his house”. That will come out once he is arrested, he added.

About the possible purpose of their staying here, Chauhan said that after the voting, the men came here as they are familiar with the area. “They wanted to flee abroad eventually,” he said.

SEKHON, AIDES SENT TO 5-DAY POLICE REMAND

NABHA: A local court on Monday sent the Nabha jailbreak mastermind, gangster Gurpreet Singh Sekhon, and his three aides to five-day police remand till February 18.

The Punjab counter-intelligence team in a joint operation with the Patiala and Moga police arrested Sekhon and his three aides — Manvir Sekhon of Makhu village, Rajwinder Singh Raja, alias Sultan, of Mangewal village in Moga and gangster Kulwinder Sidana, brother of another gangster, Surinder Sidana — from a non-resident Indian’s (NRI) house at Dhudike village of Ajitwal town in Moga on Sunday.

While Sekhon had planned the jailbreak, his cousin Manvir and Sultan were involved in executing it and helping the prisoners escape.

Manvir was the one who conducted the recce of the jail and made a video with a pen camera and plotted the escape route besides providing logistics.

While Sekhon was firing from inside the jail, Manvir and Kulwinder facilitated the stay of escapees.