Two absconding criminals from Punjab killed in Kolkata shootout

Two criminals from Punjab, including an absconding drug smuggler, who had several criminal cases against them, were killed following an exchange of fire with policemen in a residential area in Newtown, Kolkata police said on Wednesday. One police personnel has also been injured in the incident.

According to Additional Director General (ADG) of the Special Task Force (STF) unit in West Bengal VK Goyal, the two criminals have been identified as Jaipal Bhullar and Jaspreet Singh.

"We had info that some criminals were staying here. When we came for the raid, we found Jaspreet and Jaipal, who are wanted in several cases in Punjab. We tried to arrest them but they resisted and fired at us. In retaliation, we also fired and they were shot dead," Goyal said.

The ADG further stated that both, Jaspreet and Jaipal had bounties of Rs 10 lakhs and Rs 5 lakhs respectively and were involved in many cases including murder and bank robbery.

"An inspector has been hospitalized after being injured. Rs 7 lakh cash, five sophisticated pistols, and 89 live rounds of ammunition have been seized from the spot," he added.

Director-General of Police (DGP) Punjab Dinkar Gupta, while addressing a press conference, said that both the gangsters-turned-drug smugglers were wanted in the killing of two ASIs Bhagwan Singh and Dalwinderjit Singh of Jagraon Police at grain market in Punjab on May 15.

The DGP said that Punjab Police launched a massive operation code-named OP-Jack manhunt for nabbing the absconding drug smugglers, Jaipal Bhullar and Jaspreet Singh, and many police teams were dispatched to various states to nab these gangsters with the help of other state police forces.

Earlier in the day, the Punjab Police arrested today Bharat Kumar, a closed aide of Jaipal.

"Bharat revealed that both Jaipal and Jassi were holed up in a rented apartment in Kolkata. Punjab Police immediately dispatched a special team for Kolkata by flight. In the meanwhile, we also coordinated with Kolkata Police to share pinpointed inputs regarding their current hideout for the arrest of these two most-wanted drug smugglers," Gupta said.

"I am grateful to West Bengal Police, especially the ADGP and STF Chief of West Bengal who acted immediately on inputs provided by the Punjab Police and organised a raid at the Kolkata apartment where Jaipal was holed up along with his associate, Jassi," he said.

According to the information, Jaipal was absconding since 2014 and during all these years, he had committed many heinous crimes and was wanted in more than 25 sensational criminal cases. He was presently involved in the smuggling of drugs from across the border in close collaboration with major drug smugglers based in Pakistan.

A shootout occurred at a residential complex in the Newtown area of West Bengal's Kolkata between the Special Task Force (STF) and the criminals from Punjab around 3:30 pm today.

( With inputs from ANI )