— PROBE REVEALS MURDER WAS DIRECT CONSEQUENCE OF GANG RIVALRY: DGP GAURAV YADAV
— ARRESTED ACCUSED HAS CRIMINAL BACKGROUND, WAS ALSO WANTED BY HOSHIARPUR POLICE: ADGP AGTF PROMOD BAN
CHANDIGARH, August 29:
In a major breakthrough against organised crime, Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) Punjab apprehended one of the main shooters involved in the sensational murder of Rakesh Kumar alias Gaggi at village Khwaja Basal in Una, Himachal Pradesh and recovered one .32 bore country-made pistol along with six live cartridges from his possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Friday.
The arrested accused has been identified as Vipan Kumar, a resident of Bassi Muda, Baghpur Mandir in Hoshiarpur.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that this incident (Rakesh Gaggi’s murder) was a direct consequence of gang rivalry between foreign-based gangsters Laddi Bhajal alias Kooner and Monu Gujjar (Ravi Balachauria gang) with Babbi Rana (Sonu Khatri gang). The deceased, Rakesh Kumar alias Gaggi, was an associate of foreign-based gangster Babbi Rana, who is a close aide of Sonu Khatri, he said.
The DGP said that further investigations are on to establish forward and backward linkages in this case.
Sharing more details, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) AGTF Promod Ban said that acting on reliable inputs, police teams from AGTF led by DSP AGTF Rajan Parminder arrested the accused from near Village Khanpur in Kharar.
The ADGP said that the arrested accused has a criminal background and apart from his involvement in Rakesh Gaggi’s murder case, the accused has been facing cases pertaining to attempt to murder, Arms Act and NDPS Act in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.
In this regard, a fresh case FIR no. 326 dated 28/08/2025 has been registered under section 25 of the Arms Act at Police Station City Kharar in SAS Nagar.
