Crime on the rise: Chandigarh tricity becomes playing field of Punjab gangsters

Attack on Punjabi singer Parmish Verma in Mohali around Friday midnight has once again brought to the fore how gangsters from Punjab are turning the tricity into their playing field.

In fact, two gangsters — Dilpreet Singh and Sampat Nehra — have claimed “credit” for shooting at the singer of ‘Gal Ni Kadni’ fame.

This is not the first time these gangsters have struck in the tricity. From extortion and carjacking to contract killing, the gangsters have been active here for quite some time.

In April 2017, Dilpreet along with his aides had executed a contract killing with the murder of a Hoshiarpur sarpanch at Sector 38, Chandigarh, in broad daylight. This was seen as the first brush of the tricity with Punjab gangsters.

The way Dilpreet took to Facebook to claim responsibility for the attack on Verma shows he has only grown bolder with time.

The same year, Nehra had freed an undertrial from police custody at the government hospital in Panchkula on June 17. Earlier, Nehra had been booked for murder bid on a Kharar resident at Sector 27 in December 2016 besides shooting at two people in Zirakpur over — what police called — an old enmity. He was still new to the world of crime at that time.

Other players

Nehra has risen in the crime world after the arrest of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who was involved in a number of crimes in the city and is behind bars at present.

After his arrest, Nehra has been taking care of the gang’s activities.

The name of another member of this gang — Ravinder, alias Kali Rajput — cropped up in the extortion and kidnapping of a Burail hotelier in December 2017. He is wanted in a number of cases in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Yet another name that has been making the headlines in the past few months is that of Yodha Singh, alias Jodha.

The 24-year-old was involved in a series of crimes — including carjacking, kidnapping and robbery — in the city. After being caught in January this year, he managed to flee, but again landed in police net this month.

Even Jodha moved from petty crimes to heinous ones after coming into contact with Jasbir Singh Seera, a Punjab gangster, in the Kapurthala jail, and had been supplying robbed cars to him.