Chandigarh,December 16, 2019:: The arrest of dreaded gangster Sukhpreet Singh @ Budda, recently deported from Armenia through persistent efforts of Punjab Police, has led to the apprehension of 15 of his criminal associates, along with the seizure of a large number of weapons, drugs and foreign currency.
The arrests include that of Bidhi Chand r/o Khuda Lahora, retired Deputy Passport Officer, who was posted at Public Relations Officer (PRO) in Chandigarh during 2007-08. He received 50,000/- rupees from Gaurav Patyal to prepare his Indian passport on a fake name & address and to deliver it by hand to him. Bidhi Chand retired as Deputy Passport Officer in 2011.
Disclosing this here on Monday, DGP Dinkar Gupta said Budda had been trying to get into the US illegally from Armenia at the time of his detention. Since Budda fled from Punjab in April 2018 to UAE after the attack on Parmish Verma, he had traveled to many countries, including UAE, China, Iran, Russia, Thailand, Indonesia, Georgia and Singapore. However, Punjab Police was tracking his movements during his visit/stay in different countries.
The Punjab Police is now trying to identify his contacts in these countries, said the DGP, adding that Police teams from various districts, including Ludhiana, Moga, Faridkot, Khanna, SAS Nagar and Amritsar, were working on further leads, obtained during the course of investigation, under the supervision of Organized Crime Control Unit of the Punjab Police.
Giving details of the seizures made on the basis of Budda’s interrogation, the DGP said 6 weapons including 1 carbine, 1 Bulletproof Jacket, 3 kg Opium, 7 vehicles, ammunition and total cash of 13.80 lakh rupees and 1700 USD has already been recovered from him and his associates