Wanted Punjab gangster hiding in Rajasthan killed in shootout

Chandigarh: Punjab Police raided a house in Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan late on Friday evening, to arrest Vicky Gounder, one of Punjab's most wanted gangsters, who was inside with two of his accomplices.

As he realised that police had surrounded the house, he opened fire but in the ensuring shootout, police gunned down Gounder, and his two accomplices - gangsters Prem Lahoria and Sukhpreet Singh.

On Saturday, a forensics team from Bikaner in Rajasthan arrived at the house, located near a 'dhani' (canal) in Hindumal Kot village, where the bodies of Gounder and Lahoria still lay.

On Friday evening, a Punjab Police team from the Crime Control Unit along with a Rajasthan Police team raided the house located close to the Punjab-Rajasthan border.

The gangsters had opened fire at the police team when they realized that they were surrounded. While Gounder was killed inside the house, Lahoria tried to escape by scaling a wall. He was shot dead.

The third gangster, Sukhpreet Singh, who was injured in the shootout, died while being taken to the civil hospital in Abohar (in Punjab).

The house where the shootout took place is owned by the family of gangster Lakhwinder Singh Lakha. He was arrested by the police following the encounter.

The police recovered weapons and ammunition from the spot.

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Assistant Inspector General Gurmeet Singh Chauhan said the police raided the house following a tip-off.

He added that two police personnel, including a sub-inspector and assistant sub-inspector, were injured in the shootout and have been admitted to hospital.

Gounder was evading arrest since November 2016 when he made a sensational escape from the maximum-security Nabha Central Jail in Punjab along with five other prisoners, including two terrorists.

While Punjab Police rearrested five escapees in a few months, Gounder remained on the run.

He continued to taunt Punjab Police with regular Facebook updates while on the run. Gounder was suspected to be behind a fatal attack on another notorious gangster Sukha Kahlwan near Phagwara town, 135 km from here, in January 2015. Kahlwan was in police custody and on his way for a court hearing when gangsters attacked him.

Gounder, whose real name was Harjinder Singh, and other gangsters were running their gangs and issuing threats and extorting money from people while lodged in Punjab jails.