A targeted extortion hit by the Rohit Godara gang triggered panic in Panchkula’s Sector 5 early on Thursday, culminating in a dramatic high-speed police chase and an encounter at Ramgarh, 10km from the town.The encounter site where the two suspects were shot in the legs at Ramgarh, 10km from Panchkula town, early on Thursday. (HT Photo)Police said the attack occurred around 1am outside the Swiss Lounge in Sector 5 in the heart of the city when the victim, Ratan Lubana—a resident of the Mansa Devi Complex who owns both Swiss Lounge and Da Bodega Bar & Kitchen—was exiting the venue. Lubana is the cousin of Narinder Pal Singh Lubana, the husband of Ward No. 1 BJP councillor Paramjit Kaur. Two assailants lying in wait opened indiscriminate fire on Lubana and his associate.Closed-circuit camera (CCTV) footage captured the panic as bystanders scrambled for cover. Lubana was hit in the abdomen, while his associate, identified by the police as Lalit, sustained a gunshot wound to the shoulder. The attackers unleashed a volley of bullets before fleeing on a motorcycle.Both victims were rushed to the nearby Civil Hospital in Sector 6 but were later referred to Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.High-speed chase to Ramgarh encounterPanchkula police immediately locked down the district and mobilised crime branch units. A team spotted the suspects fleeing down National Highway 7 toward the Ramgarh area, past the Nada Sahib Gurdwara.Following a high-speed, 10-km chase that lasted less than 10 minutes, police managed to intercept the motorcycle. Despite repeated commands to surrender, the shooters opened fire on the police. In the ensuing exchange, police shot both suspects in the legs, overpowering and disarming them. Across both the club ambush and the police encounter, the suspects fired a total of 18 rounds.The arrested shooters have been identified as 18-year-old Harpreet Singh of Hoshiarpur, and Jaswinder Singh of Jagraon, Punjab. Police confirmed that Jaswinder is a hardened criminal who already faces two prior attempt-to-murder charges in Punjab. Both are currently hospitalised under heavy police guard.Extortion angle, Godara syndicate linkPanchkula deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Srishti Gupta confirmed that the shooting was a direct fallout of an international extortion racket. Lubana had previously received death threats and protection money demands from the Rohit Godara gang operating out of Europe.Godara masterminds these operations from overseas, targeting business and nightlife figures across Haryana and Punjab. He uses virtual calling applications to issue multi-crore extortion threats, subsequently hiring desperate local youth to execute the physical attacks by supplying them with illegal weaponry just hours before the hit.Forensic teams have cleared both crime scenes, recovering spent cartridges and the getaway motorcycle. The police are currently interrogating the suspects to trace the local handlers who supplied the firearms and monitored Lubana’s movements.