Extortionists held for planning release of their gang kingpin

Ludhiana: The police on Wednesday claimed to have arrested four extortionists for hatching a conspiracy to free their gang kingpin from Nabha Central Jail.
Rajan Raja of New Azad Nagar, Resham of Samrala Chowk, Gurvinder Singh Guri and Sukhchain Singh, both of Fatehgarh Sahib, were nabbed from Kashmir Nagar on a tip-off. Their accomplice Vijay Kumar of Basti Jodhewal is on the run.
The six-member gang is accused of extorting money from 15 Ludhiana bookies. “Gang kingpin Rajiv Raja would threaten bookies from inside the jail through WhatsApp. With the extorted money, the gang had purchased 11 weapons, two magazines and 19 cartridges from Uttar Pradesh over the past one-and-a-half months. They were now planning to rob a car to free Rajiv Raja,” said additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP-1) Gurpreet Singh Sikand.
A .32-bore revolver, its nine live cartridges and two magazines; three .315-bore country-made revolvers, their 10 live cartridges; a car, a scooter and three fake vehicle registration number plates have been recovered from the arrested. The remaining weapons were with Vijay Kumar, he added.
Assistant commissioner of police (Central) Waryam Singh said, “During interrogation, the four told that Rajiv Raja was running the gang and making all money transactions from inside the jail. We will write to the Nabha jail authorities about it and bring the gangster here on production warrant.”
The gang members were in touch with Rajiv Raja through an internet phone number, which could not be traced. “The accused told that as Rajiv Raja’s court hearings were held through video conferencing, they were planning to get a fake FIR lodged against him in Uttar Pradesh, so that they could get him freed when he would be taken to UP for a hearing.”