Punjab: Two arrested for opening fire at IELTS centre in Mohali’s Dera Bassi

Hours after masked men triggered panic by opening fire at an immigration consultancy-cum-IELTS centre in Dera Bassi town of Mohali district on Thursday afternoon, police arrested the duo.

The brazen attack in which five shots were fired at the gate of the centre occurred metres from the local police station. It was the second incident of its kind in Mohali in the past two months.

Police said one of the accused belonged to Dera Bassi, while his accomplice was from Naraingarh in adjoining Haryana.

Before fleeing, the two accused, who were captured on CCTV cameras, flung an extortion letter at the centre’s reception, demanding ₹1 crore from centre owner Harwinder Singh.

The accused are accomplices of gangster Manjeet Singh, alias Guri, alias Money, of Khedi Gujran, Dera Bassi, as his name was mentioned in the letter, the police said.

Guri, an associate of gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar, is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail at present.

He was arrested on November 6, 2023, while his accomplice had managed to flee after a police encounter on VIP Road, Zirakpur. Later, Delhi Police took him on production warrant in connection with another case.

The police said Thursday’s attack was similar to that of the July 20 incident in which three miscreants, claiming to be from the Kaushal Chaudhary gang, opened fire in the air outside a diagnostics laboratory after handing over an extortion note to a woman doctor.

In the latest incident, one of the two accused entered the IELTS centre on the first floor at 1.45pm on Thursday and handed over the letter to the receptionist, while his accomplice stood outside the glass door.

As the first accused came out, his accomplice fired five gunshots in the air at the gate of the centre before both fled downstairs. A group of women outside watched in shock as the shooters escaped on a motorcycle. Police later recovered four empty cartridges from the spot.

Harwinder Singh said, “The letter mentioned Kheri Gujran, Tihar Jail, Delhi.”

A police official connected with the probe said: “These gangsters need money to carry out their operations and target businessmen for extortion. The shooters of gangster Guri were behind the firing.”

Mohali SSP Deepak Pareek, SP (rural) Manpreet Singh and Dera Bassi ASP Jayant Puri besides a forensics team reached the IELTS centre soon after the incident. Multiple investigating units of Punjab Police were roped in to track down the accused.

A case was registered for organised crime, attempt to murder, extortion, tresspass to hurt, criminal intimidation and under the Arms Act at the Dera Bassi police station.