Chandigarh, June 26 -- For those who settled or grew up in the city post the militancy-era, Chandigarh has offered a relatively peaceful, safe and slow way of living. Barring isolated incidents of crimes, the city has been largely insulated from organised crime. But of late, the city has been seeing a worrying surge in gang-linked violence, extortion and contract killings. From a property dealer's murder outside a gym in Sector 9 to a cashier's killing in a busy chemist shop in Sector 11, to a gang member's murder in Sector 26, the city is seeing blood on its streets. Neighbour Panchkula too has seen its share of gang activities. A club owner in Panchkula was recently shot at, leaving him and his friend critically injured (see box). So when did the city become a hub for gangsters? UT inspector general of police (IGP), Pushpendra Kumar, says gang-linked violence isn't new to the tricity. "It's just becoming more visible now. The trend we are seeing is that the handlers (of gangs) are based abroad. They rope in foot soldiers, often vulnerable youngsters, from nearby states and send them to the city to execute the crimes. Encrypted messaging apps are used to monitor their movements and give them directions." Another senior police official, not willing to be named, added: "In most cases, the youngsters tasked with these crimes are promised meagre sums, and sometimes not even paid the full amount. Even in the recent Sector 11 shooting, the shooters were offered less than Rs.1 lakh per person. Even in some Mohali shooting incidents, it emerged that the shooters came from poor families and were addicted to drugs." Kuldeep Singh, the chairperson of the centre for police administration, said the rise of gangsterism can be tied to the rise of unemployment and drug use in tricity, especially post Covid. The operations cell of Chandigarh Police recently uncovered a weapons supply network allegedly used by shooters linked to multiple gangs. They arrested Haryana-based Mukesh Gohana, who had allegedly been providing weapons to the gangs active in tricity. Officials noted that while in the past, country-made pistols from Uttar Pradesh were used in the crimes, the recent recoveries of imported automatic pistols from Turkey and the Czech Republic show that gangs now have access toexpensive and hard-to-procure weapons. Another worrying trend is the rise of copycats. Taking advantage of the growing fear of the Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar, Lucky Patial, Bambiha and Goldy Dhillon gangs, miscreants, having no links with gangs, have been found trying to extort money from businessmen, property dealers and other residents. One such accused was arrested by the UT Police on Wednesday. Jaskarn Singh, 21, an AC mechanic working in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, had made an extortion call to a city-based jeweller in the aftermath of the chemist shop cashier's killing. During interrogation, the accused allegedly disclosed that he was in dire need of money and hatched the extortion plan after watching videos related to the cashier's killing. In Panchkula too, several businessmen approached the police for security in the aftermath of the chemist shop incident. Panchkula deputy commissioner of police (crime) Amrinder Singh said police have provided personal security officers (PSOs) to nearly a dozen businessmen and also installed Abhedya app - an application that blocks calls and messages from unknown international numbers - on their phones. IGP Kumar said that Chandigarh police have increased surveillance in the city. "We have developed a full area security plan, which includes road nakas to curtail crime. We are also in talks to bring more parts of the city under closed-circuit television camera cover." PU CPA chairperson Singh added. "Verification of those living in PG accommodations and hostels must be carried out."...