CHANDIGARH: The Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU) of Punjab Police, in a joint operation with SAS Nagar Police, have arrested Gavi Singh @ Vijay @ Giani, a close aide of Gangster Jaipal, who had fled the State following police pressure and was absconding. He was involved funding of the gang by running a drug cartel, Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Dinkar Gupta said here on Tuesday.
Gavi, a resident of village Raaya Wala in Ferozepur district, was arrested from Sarai Kila Kharsawa district in Jharkhand by a team of Punjab Police, alongwith Jharkhand Police. The accused also shares close relations with jailed Gangster Chandan alias Chandu of Ferozepur.
The police have also recovered a Toyota Fortuner SUV, five mobile handsets and three internet dongles, being used to handle drug and criminal networks from his possession.
Gavi, who had close links with Pakistan and Jammu & Kashmir drug smugglers, was receiving the drug supply and weapons from Pakistan via pipes beneath the fences or using water tubes in the river. He had also managed to give a slip to the Jalandhar Rural Police in an 11 Kg heroin recovery case in February 2020. Gavi is a history-sheeter who is facing over 10 heinous criminal cases, including murder, dacoity, kidnapping, extortion, under the NDPS and Arms Act.
DGP Dinkar Gupta, while divulging details, said that Gavi had started working as Gym Instructor in Gold Gym after moving to Sarai Kila district in Jharkhand. He shared that the Punjab Police chased Gavi to Jharkhand, and different police teams, under the supervision of Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) OCCU Gurmeet Chauhan and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) SAS Nagar Satinder Singh sent Police teams to Jharkhand and launched a combing operation in districts Jamshedpur and Sarai Kila, in association with the Jharkhand Police.
The Punjab Police teams, headed by Inspector Hardeep Singh and Inspector Pushwinder Singh, tracked the location of Gavi in Sarai Kila, where he was living in a rented flat in Sri Nath Global village using fake ID and to dodge the police, he even switched his vehicle from i20 to Fortuner SUV, which was purchased using drug money, he said.
DGP Dinkar Gupta said that on Monday evening, the Police teams arrested the accused from his flat and the Punjab Police will obtain his transit remand after producing him in a Judicial Court in Jharkhand.
He said that the Police are carrying out investigations in the case and the arrest of Gavi was expected to unravel the active involvement of gangsters in cross-border drug smuggling into the State and country.
Meanwhile, Gavi was arrested in connection with the FIR no. 31 dated April 14, 2021, registered under sections 392 (Robbery), 395 (Dacoity), 384 (Extortion) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), sections 21-22-29 of the NDPS Act and sections 25 of the Arms Act at Sadar Kurali Police Station.