Chandigarh: A dreaded criminal, Saraj Singh Sandhu, wanted in the gruesome murder of a Hindu outfit leader in Amritsar last year and other cases, was arrested today in Jalandhar district, the Punjab Police claimed.  

A joint team of the Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU) of Punjab Police and Jalandhar (Rural) Police arrested Sandhu near Bidhipur Railway Phatak, close to Jalandhar-Amritsar road (NH-1), around 6.15 am today, police said.  

Sandhu alias Mintoo was wanted in the high-profile daylight murder of Hindu Sangharsh Sena leader Vipan Sharma in Amritsar. Sharma was shot dead from point blank range in full public view at Bharat Nagar locality on Batala-Amritsar road on October 30 last year.  

Sandhu, who carried a reward of Rs five lakh on his head, was also facing multiple heinous crime cases of murder, extortion, drug trade, robbery and bank dacoity in Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and Batala, police officials said.  

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh congratulated the police teams for the success of the operation carried out under the guidance of DGP Suresh Arora and DGP (Intelligence) Dinkar Gupta.  

Giving details of the arrest, Assistant Inspector General, OCCU, Jalandhar, H P S Khakh said two sophisticated pistols, along with a huge catch of ammunition, was seized from the 'A' category hardcore gangster, who carried a reward of Rs five lakh on his head. This was the first time that Sandhu was arrested despite his long and active involvement in crime, he added.  

During preliminary investigation, Sandhu allegedly confessed to his involvement in various crimes, the most prominent being the daylight murder of Sharma on October 30 last year, said the AIG, adding that more cases were expected to be solved with further investigation. 

Sandhu, on his Facebook page last year, had claimed that he had killed Sharma. In the post, he held Sharma responsible for the murder of a policeman, who was the father of his friend-Shubham Singh.  

Sandhu along with Shubham Singh and one Dharminder Singh, were booked for their alleged involvement in the case. The AIG said on September 1 last year, Sandhu and his associates, attacked a police party and freed notorious criminal Shubham Singh when the latter was about to be produced in Amritsar court.  

Police said Sandhu also confessed to having been involved in drug trade with his two of his close associates -Jaggu Bhagwan Purian and Bobby Malhotra, at present lodged in Hoshiarpur and Amritsar jails respectively. The AIG said police was planning to seek production warrants of both these inmates for further investigation. PTI