Chandigarh, Nov 1 (IANS) In a major breakthrough amid the ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF), in a joint operation with Bathinda Police, have apprehended a wanted criminal identified as Ranjit Singh, alias Sapp, of Bangi Nihal Singh village in Bathinda, said Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Saturday.

Police teams have also recovered one illegal .32 bore pistol along with four cartridges from his possession.

DGP Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused is a close associate of gangster Rammi Machana and was wanted in two criminal cases.

He added that in September the police had recovered 130 grams of heroin, one 9 MM country-made pistol with six cartridges, and one country-made .12 bore pistol from his residence.

At that time his mother, Paramjit Kaur, was arrested but the accused had managed to flee, he said.

The DGP said that further investigation is underway to establish backward and forward linkages in this case.

Sharing operation details, AGTF Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Promod Ban said that acting on reliable inputs, police teams from AGTF led by AGTF Deputy Superintendent of Police Rajan Parminder in coordination with Bathinda Police has arrested the accused Ranjit Singh from Bhagwanpura village in Bathinda.

Bathinda Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Amneet Kondal, said that Ranjit Singh has a criminal background with multiple cases registered against him, including murder, house trespass with intent to cause hurt, Arms Act, Prisons Act, and NDPS Act violations.

In this regard, an FIR case dated September 20 has already been registered under Section 21 (b) of the NDPS Act and Sections 25 of the Arms Act at Sangat police station in Bathinda.

–IANS

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