Gang of robbers busted; cops among 5 held
The police claimed to have busted a gang involved in the Rs 1.68-crore robbery on the Siswan-Baddi road and the Rs 11.41-lakh robbery on the national highway at Bann Majra village near Rupnagar. Both robberies took place in December last year.
The police claimed to have busted a gang involved in the Rs 1.68-crore robbery on the Siswan-Baddi road and the Rs 11.41-lakh robbery on the national highway at Bann Majra village near Rupnagar. Both robberies took place in December last year.
The police have arrested five gang members, including two policemen and two workers of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), all from Rupnagar district, while the sixth is yet to be nabbed. The police have recovered part of the looted cash, and arms and ammunition.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, inspector general of police (IGP), Patiala zone, Paramjit Singh Gill, said the police made the breakthrough while investigating the Bann Majra robbery on December 12 last year in which robbers, in police uniform, had looted Rs 11.41 lakh from the director of a petrol pump company, Ravinder Pal Singh, after stabbing him.
He said the special team formed to crack the case had received a tip-off that the gang had gathered near a rivulet at Rangilpur village. The police raided the area and arrested Punjab Armed Police (PAP) constable Harinder Singh of Singh Bhagwantpur village (Rupnagar), head constable Sukhwinder Singh of Kotla Nihang village posted at Singh Bhagwantpur police station and Harjit Singh of Thauna village.
The three other gang members — Barinder Singh of Thauna village, former sarpanch Harinder Singh of Madpur village (Rupnagar) and Gurjit Singh of Mullanpur Garibdas village (SAS Nagar) managed to flee. The police chased them and arrested Harinder and Barinder, Gill said.
Harinder and Barinder are SAD workers and partners in their business of petrol pumps.
Gill said the arrested gang members confessed that they had looted `1.68 crore and two double-barrel guns from CMS Company’s security van, which was carrying cash of Axis Bank for filling the bank ATMs at Baddi and Barotiwala in Himachal Pradesh, at gunpoint in police uniform after throwing chilli powder in the eyes of company employees on December 9 last year.
Gill said Harjit was a former securityman of the CMS company. Harinder, Barinder and Gurjit were involved in the Bann Majra robbery. The police have recovered two guns, two .32-bore revolvers, Rs 4.65 lakh in cash, a Verna car and a Swift Dzire car from their possession.