Inspector Bikram Brar, who was part of the police team involved in the Vicky Gounder encounter, on Monday dismissed the allegation of fake encounter as baseless.
Claiming that Gounder’s family was lying, he said he neither studied in Jalandhar nor did he play any game there.
He claimed that the encounter lasted about 20 minutes and the first information in this regard was given to Khuiyan Sarwar police station near Abohar and within minutes to Rajasthan Police.
“My seniors were present at the encounter site and we were 23 cops in total. Now, Rajasthan Police is investigating the matter. I never served in Jalandhar. Gounder’s family is concocting a story,” said Brar, while speaking to this correspondent on phone on Monday.
He claimed that they both (Gounder and Brar) had an age gap of 10 years. “I studied up to Class XII at YPS Patiala and later started learning boxing at NIS there,” Brar said.
Gurbhej Singh Sandhu, uncle of Gounder, who is resident of Sarawan Bodla village, had on Sunday alleged that the encounter was fake and both Gounder and Prema Lahoriya, along with one of their friends, had gone to Abohar area to surrender through Brar. He had further alleged that Brar was in contact with the deceased on WhatsApp.
However, Brar clarified that he had neither interrogated them in any past incident, nor did he speak to them.
GANGSTERS CANNOT ESCAPE LAW FOR LONG: CAPT AMARINDER SINGH
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday rejected allegations of a fake encounter of most wanted gangster Vicky Gounder and his associates, saying the families of the deceased gangsters were obviously reacting from a sense of grief.
The chief minister also said that there would be an expansion of the state Cabinet after municipal elections are held in Ludhiana.
Congratulations to Punjab Police for killing most wanted gangster Vicky Gounder and his aide Prema Lahoria. Excellent work by DGP Suresh Arora, DG Intelligence Dinkar Gupta and OCCU team, including AIG Gurmeet Singh and Inspector Vikram Brar. Proud of you boys.
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) January 26, 2018
“While the death of gangsters is not a cause for celebration, such criminals should realise that nobody was above the law, nor could they escape the law for long,” said the chief minister in response to media queries at an event organised by Chandigarh Press Club here.
He also appealed to gangsters still active in the state to shun the path of violence.
Punjab Police had on January 26 eliminated -the most wanted Vicky Gounder, his associate Prema Lahoria, and Sawinder Singh, who succumbed to bullet injuries later in an encounter at village Pakki under Hindu Malkot police station in Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan.
Yesterday, family members of Gounder had alleged that Gounder and Lahoria were killed in a fake encounter.
The chief minister said that since the Congress government took over, 47 per cent of A category gangsters and 42 per cent B category ones had either surrendered or were arrested, as a result of a concerted police crackdown.
Asserting that the police would continue to pursue criminals still at large, the chief minister said they should realise that they could not evade the law any longer.
He made it clear that though the gangsters would have to meet their fate under the law, the government would, at the same time, make all efforts for their eventual rehabilitation.
To a question on allegations of a fake encounter by the families of Gounder and his aides, Amarinder Singh dismissed the charges as false.
To another question, he said that the Cabinet expansion would be undertaken after the Ludhiana municipal elections. The selection would once again be based on merit, he added.
