Most-wanted Punjab gangster, aide shot dead in Kolkata flat

KOLKATA/LUDHIANA: An inter-state manhunt for Punjab’s most-wanted gangster and drug smuggling kingpin Jaipal Singh Bhullar culminated in Bengal police shooting him and an accomplice dead in a Kolkata flat on Wednesday, 25 days after the gang murdered two ASIs of Ludhiana rural police at the Jagraon grain market.
An officer of the special task force team that raided the flat in New Town, built around Bengal’s tech hub, was injured in the gunfight with Jaipal, 39, and his accomplice Jaspreet Singh, alias Jassi, 34, before both fell to a hail of police bullets.

Bengal police released a photo showing the bodies of the duo, wearing boxer shorts, lying on the floor of the second-floor flat.
Jaipal , who is from Ferozepur, had a bounty of ₹10 lakh on his head while Jassi’s was Rs 5 lakh. On the run since 2014, Jaipal was wanted in 25 cases, including drugs smuggling in collaboration with criminals in Pakistan.
The police found five 9mm pistols, 89 rounds of ammunition and Rs 7 lakh in cash inside the flat. Jaipal had snatched a 9mm pistol from ASI Sukhdev Singh of Punjab police at a post on GT Road near Doraha on May 10.