Gang involved in looting people at gunpoint busted, two held

AMRITSAR: Police have busted a gang involved in looting people at gunpoint and arrested two of its members on Monday. The police also claimed to have solved five

AMRITSAR: Police have busted a gang involved in looting people at gunpoint and arrested two of its members on Monday. The police also claimed to have solved five looting cases with these arrests.

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The accused have been identified as Gurleen Singh (29), son of Jagdish Singh and Bhupinder Singh (31), son of Kawaljeet Singh, both residents of Pandori Gola village of Tarn Taran district.

Amritsar deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar said some unidentified men had looted a money exchanger at gunpoint in November in Amritsar. Special police teams were deployed at various money exchange offices of the city following the incident, he said. Bhullar said crime investigation agency (CIA) wing collected the data of the employees working in these offices and found that accused Gurleen, who worked in Western Union company, was fired due to his habit of taking drugs.

“After receiving a tip off, police team arrested Gurleen and during interrogation he confessed that he and Bhupinder had looted a money exchanger on Taylor road, here on November 5. Police also recovered a pistol, a mobile phone, one sharp-edged weapon, stolen motorcycle and a helmet from the duo,” said the DCP.

During interrogation, the police also found that the accused were involved in four other similar cases.

A case was registered against Gurleen Singh at C-Division police station in 2015 for looting some people. Duo had also looted ₹1.2 lakh from a money exchanger at gun-point in Tarn Taran in May and a case was registered against them at Tarn Taran city police station. Both of them had also looted ₹1,100 from a commuter at Verka bypass in June after attacking him with a sharp-edged weapon. The accused had also snatched purses of two women at Putligarh Chowk a fortnight ago.

A case has been registered against the duo at Civil Lines police station under Sections 379 (punishment for theft), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). “The accused will be produced in a court and we will seek their remand for further investigation,” DCP added.