Amritsar, Jul 20 (PTI) It was a blast from the past, quite literally, for the people of Bhakna and nearby villages in Amritsar, when on Wednesday morning they were asked to abandon their fields, as police rained bullets at a house where the alleged killers of Sidhu Moosewala hid.
Villagers said the sound of guns reminded them of ‘80s, when terrorism was at its peak in Punjab.
Gangsters Jagroop Singh Roopa and Manpreet Singh alias Mannu Kusa were killed by the Punjab Police in Amritsar on Wednesday in an encounter that lasted around five hours, said Police.
Farmers, who usually go to their fields in the morning, were asked to rush back to their homes as police and gangsters exchanged gunfire.
As the firing began, women working in the fields too ran back to their homes and stopped their children from coming out.
“The heavy movement of police vehicles once again reminded us the time of late eighties, the black days of terrorism in Punjab,” Inderjit Singh of village Khasa said.
“People of all the nearby villages were scared as they were confined to their homes. They were unable to bring fodder for their livestock.” The violent exchange left bullet marks even on a combine harvester machine that stood in the field that became the site of the encounter.
“We were harvesting maize crop. Police vehicles came and then firing started. Heavy firing took place. The driver of our combine machine was told to go back,” said a villager.
The driver was fortunate to have come back as some bullets hit the combine machine, he said.
During the operation, the area was cordoned off and the locals were told to stay indoors, said police, as heavy force was deployed in the village.
Police wearing bulletproof jackets were seen taking the cover behind a tractor and a trolley near the building where the gangsters were hiding.
Two armoured vehicles and some bulletproof vehicles were also deployed during the operation against the gangsters.
Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, popularly known as Sidhu Moosewala, was shot dead in Punjab’s Mansa district on May 29. PTI JMS CHS VSD VN VN
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