Ranjeet @ Cheeta & his Brother arrested from Sirsa in Joint Operation with Haryana Police – DGP Dinkar Gupta

Capt Amarinder congratulates Police Force for Aggressive Anti-Terror Operations in Midst of Covid Crisis

Chandigarh, May 9 (Punjab Post Bureau) – Announcing Ranjeet Singh @ Rana @ Cheeta’s arrest along with that of his brother Gagandeep @ Bhola, from Begu village in Sirsa Haryana, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh lauded the Punjab Police for their aggressive operations against terrorists and drug smugglers despite their pre-occupation with the enforcement of curfew and other measures to contain the spread of Covid.

Notching another major success against Pakistan-sponsored narco-terrorism networks in the country, the Punjab Police on Saturday morning arrested Ranjeet Singh @ Rana @ Cheeta, a big fish in the ISI-controlled network, with links to Hizbul Mujahideen commander Naikoo who was killed by security forces in Kashmir recently, said Captain Amarinder.

Captain Amarinder said that with more than 10 criminal cases against him, Ranjeet was one of the a key links in the network engaged in smuggling of large number of composite consignments of drugs and illegal weapons through the Indo-Pak border through the legal land route of ICP Attari and also across the border fencing on Indo-Pak border in Punjab and J&K. He was also wanted for bringing in 532 kg of heroin and 52 kg of mixed narcotics, worth over Rs 2700 crores, from Pakistan in a consignment of 600 bags of rock salt, through Integrated Check Post, Attari (Amritsar) on 29th June, 2019. 

In the June 2019 operation, the Customs Department Amritsar had seized one of the biggest hauls of 532 Kgs of suspected heroin and 52 Kgs of suspected mixed Narcotics at ICP Amritsar and apprehended 2 persons, Tariq Ahmed Lone r/o Handwara, J&K and Gurpinder Singh r/o Amritsar. The consignment was hidden under bags of salt in the truck which had come from Pakistan, said Chief Minister of Punjab.

Captain Amarinder also congratulated the police force led by DGP Dinkar Gupta, for the arrest of Hilal Ahmed Wagay, an overground worker of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen. It is notable that the inputs shared by Punjab Police are learnt to have played a significant role in the operations by J&K Police against Riaz Ahmed Naikoo, the Hizbul Muhajideen Commander in the Valley. Two more Hizbul operatives were later, on May 5, arrested by Punjab Police from Amrtisar.

Following Hilal’s arrest, the Chief Minister said, adding that the Punjab Police had shared Hilal’s disclosures with the central government and its agencies. During the course of investigations, CCTV footage of a large number of CCTV camera points on the possible route was gathered and examined followed by technical analysis, which led to the apprehension of one Bikram Singh@Vicky and his brother Maninder Singh @ Mani, with 1 kg of heroin and Rs 32.25 lakh currency, on May 5, 2020. 

Their interrogation revealed that both Bikram and Maninder, along with their cousins Ranjeet Singh@Cheeta, Iqbal Singh@Shera and Sarwan Singh, were dealing in drugs smuggled from across the border, and that Bikram had come to deliver Rs 29 lakh drug money to Hilal Ahmed on the instructions of Ranjit Singh @ Cheetah, Iqbal Singh@Shera and Sarwan Singh.

Bikram @ Vicky, and his brother Maninder Singh @ Mani who were arrested from Amritsar on 5th May 2020 made certain disclosures about the activities of Ranjit @ Cheeta and his brother Sarwan @ Polu. Further analysis of data, alongwith NIA, led to the identification of Ranjeet’s Sirsa location, and subsequently, in coordination with Haryana Police, the hideout was busted and he was caught with his brother in the wee hours of today, said the Chief Minister.   

Giving details of the Sirsa operations DGP Dinkar Gupta said he spoke to his Haryana counterpart Manoj Yadav at around 9 pm on Friday, and thereafter coordination was established by CP Amritsar with Arun Nehra, IPS, SP Sirsa. A team of Amritsar police comprising of ASP Abhimanyu Rana, IPS,  currently working as SHO Sadar, DCP (D) Amritsar Mukhvinder Singh Bhullar and ADCP(D) Jugraj Singh started for Sirsa on 8 May at 11 pm and reached around 3:30 am, and the outer cordon was setup by 4:30 am.