Chandigarh, Feb 23 The Punjab Police have busted a major extortion racket being operated by US-based gangster Gurdev Jassal with the arrest of its two operatives, said Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Sunday.
The other arrested operative has been identified as Ankus Maini, a resident of Gurdaspur district.
DGP Yadav said the preliminary investigation revealed on February 4 that associates of Jassal opened fire at a petrol pump of a Kalanaur-based businessman to intimidate him and extort money from him.
After continuous threat calls and demand of Rs 1 crore as extortion money, the businessman eventually paid Rs 50 lakh on February 11, he added.
He said that Jassal's gang used foreign numbers for threats and coordinated payments, ensuring that the extortion funds were routed through multiple intermediaries.
The probe revealed that ASI Surjit Singh and Ankus Maini were involved in the collection and distribution of extortion funds, he added.
The DGP said the accused Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Surjit Singh has been dismissed from the service under Article 311(2) of the Constitution.
Further investigations are on to establish backward and forward linkages in this case, he added.
Sharing operation details, Senior Superintendent of Police (Batala) Suhail Qasim Mir said some days back, the Station House Officer (SHO) of Sadar Batala police station received intelligence input regarding a local police officer's involvement in handling extortion money.
Following inputs, an operation was launched leading to the arrest of the ASI, and upon his confession regarding concealing a large cache of money at his house, a team reached his residence at Harnam Nagar, Batala, where Rs 76.32 lakh in cash was recovered from a concealed compartment, he said, adding that following his arrest, ASI Surjit Singh claimed that the money was sent by his son, who is settled in the US.
The SSP said during the technical investigation the person who had handed over the money to the ASI was also tracked and eventually accused Ankus was arrested, who disclosed that the amount he had handed over to the ASI was extortion money extorted by US-based Gurdev Jassal.
Police teams have also recovered Rs 5.91 lakh and one .32 bore pistol along with two cartridges from the possession of Ankus, besides, impounding his black Mahindra Scorpio car.
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