Mohali police arrests 3 ‘members’ of Bhupi Rana gang after encounter

The encounter occurred at Furniture Market, Baltana, near a hotel where the criminals were holed up.

According to information, three members of Bhupi Rana gang had come to Zirakpur for allegedly extorting a hotel owner in Baltana area of Zirakpur.

The criminals had stayed in hotel Relax Inn.

The police got wind of the criminals and a team led by Zirakpur DSP Bikramjeet Brar cordoned off the area and the criminals were asked to surrender.

“The criminals opened fire at the police party. They fired two shots at the police party injuring a policeman. The police team too returned the fire. The criminals could not escape and one of them was also injured,” a police officer said requesting anonymity.

The police team was questioning the arrested criminals till filing of the report and the area was cordoned off to keep the locals away. The police also recovered some weapons from the criminals.

According to the police officials, the gang had been running an extortion racket in the area for the past some time and used to threaten the hotel owners.

“There was a case of extortion going on in Zirakpur. They were being traced. Today they came and attacked police party. One assailant and a policeman were injured. Further investigation is going on and our teams are working on further leads,” Mohali SSP Vivek Sheel Soni said.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (Ropar Range) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, who reached the spot, said that on July 11, the Zirakpur police had registered an extortion case on the complaint of a hotel owner against Haryana-based criminal Ankit Rana, a close associate of Bhupi Rana.

Bhullar said that the police had laid a trap on Sunday and three criminals had reached the hotel where the criminals fired at the police party.

According to DIG Bhullar, Punjab Police Sub-Inspector Rahul was injured in a scuffle when the criminals had hit him with a gun’s butt while the criminals fired a bullet which hit the bullet-proof jacket of another police personnel.

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Bhullar said that two pistols of .30 bore and . 32 bore were recovered from the criminals and two bullet shells were also found on the spot.

Replying to a question about injured criminals, Bhullar said that a criminal identified as Ranbir was also injured in the retaliatory firing.

“The three men are from Barwala. They told us that they had come to take the extortion money at the behest of Ankit Rana,” DIG Bhullar stated.

Bhullar said that Ankit Rana is a close associate of Bhupi Rana and that he was booked in a number of criminal cases and was out on bail.