Punjab gangster Gounder, accomplice Lahoriya killed in shootout

Chandigarh: Notorious Punjab gangster Vicky Gounder and accomplice Prem Lahoriya were killed in a shootout along the Punjab-Rajasthan border in south-west Punjab, police sources said on Friday.

Reports said both were killed by a police team chasing Gounder based on reliable information on his whereabouts. Further details were awaited.

Gounder was evading arrest since November 2016 when he made a sensational escape from the maximum-security Nabha Central Jail in Punjab along with five other prisoners, including two terrorists.

While the Punjab Police rearrested five escapees in a few months, Gounder remained on the run.

Vicky Gounder's real name was Harjinder Bhullar alias Jinder, a resident of Sarawan Bodla village in former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's home turf Lambi.

Gounder was suspected to be behind a fatal attack on another notorious gangster Sukha Kahlwan near Phagwara town, 135 km from here, in January 2015.

Kahlwan was in police custody and on his way for a court hearing when gangsters attacked him.

Gounder and other gangsters were running their gangs and issuing threats and extorting money from people while lodged in Punjab jails.