The police have arrested notorious robber Jaipal Singh with his three accomplices, including son of an inspector of the Chandigarh police.

The other three accused are Ferozepur resident Gurshahid Singh Pawar, Chandigarh Sector-26 resident Harinder Singh (inspector’s son) and Harjot Singh of Ludhiana.

The police said the accused were involved in various crimes, including the recent bank robberies in Panchkula and Mohali, and robberies in Sector 33, Chandigarh and Ajit Gun House in Hoshiarpur. The accused were arrested when they were returning after committing another robbery in Ludhiana. Four weapons with 25 live cartridges and Rs 4.64 lakh have been found on them, the police said.

The police plan
The police got a tip-off on Tuesday morning about the robbers coming to Chandigarh in a white Swift car after robbing Rs 4.64 lakh from a shop in Ludhiana on Monday, IGP Shanti Kumar Jain said at a press conference.

Soon, a Special Crime Investigation Cell team put a checkpost with commandoes on the road dividing Beant Singh Memorial and the artificial lake in Sector 42. After some time, the police team intercepted a white Swift car (PB10CJ 3433). The commandoes immediately surrounded the car and a police officer asked the robbers to step out. “They tried to draw their weapons. But the police team pounced on them. Soon they were overpowered. All four robbers were carrying weapons with live cartridges,” the IGP said.

Jaipal met Raja in jail
Officials said Jaipal Singh was the mastermind of the gang. He was earlier arrested by the Ludhiana police in 2004 in a kidnapping case. Inside jail, he befriended Rajiv alias Raja of the highway gang, arrested by the Panchkula police recently. After being released on bail, Jaipal helped Raja to escape from police custody by firing at the police party. Thereafter, they formed a gang and starting committing robberies in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh. “Jaipal was the mastermind. He kept on changing his hideouts and contact numbers to avoid being tracked,” DSP (CID) Satbir Singh said. He used to take houses on rent. “We will look into whether the houseowners verified his credentials with the police or not,” a police officer said.

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