Mohali police have arrested two members of a gang that they claimed was involved in extorting businessmen in the district.
The police said that both the arrested men were already wanted for allegedly opening fire outside a nightclub in March. Police have recovered five pistols, one revolver and 25 live cartridges and two-wheeler from the posession of the arrested men.
Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vivek Sheel Soni said that those arrested were identified as Ashwani Kumar alias sarpanch and his accomplice Parshant Hindraw. The SSP said that during interrogation, the men have revealed that they were involved in opening fire outside Brew Bros microbrewery in Sector 80 in March this year.
According to the SSP, both the accused used to scare businessmen by firing outside their homes or offices to get them to cough up extortion money.
Prodded about extortion calls being made to the owners of Brew Bros, the SSP confirmed that the accused had called the owners and demanded extortion. When the owners refused, they opened fire outside the microbrewery.
The SSP said that accused Ashwini Kumar had also confessed to having opened fire outside Hotel G-Regency in Zirakpur, while Parshant Hindraw, he claimed, was involved in supplying weapons to criminals, with a total of 21 illegal weapons having been recovered from him in the last year alone.
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Elaborating further, the SSP said that the recovered two-wheeler was registered on the name of a Zirakpur resident and the accused had kept the owner in the dark about their activities and used the scooter for criminal activities. The SSP added that some clothes (a hoody jacket and jeans) were also recovered from the accused, which were worn by them the day they opened fire outside Brew Bros.
Highlighting the criminal history of the accused, the SSP said that Ashwini Kumar was booked in an Arms Act case in Gharshankar and a extortion case in Delhi, while Parshant has been booked in a murder case in Ambala and an attempt to murder case in Tripari in Patiala.