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Jandiala gun house theft: ITI student held, 44 firearms recovered
According to police, the ITI student along with his three friends—two of them air conditioner (AC) fitters—had committed the crime.
The rural police on Wednesday arrested an ITI student in the firearms theft case in which some burglars had stolen firearms from a gun house in Jandiala town of Amritsar district.
The police recovered 44 firearms and 1,300 rounds at the instance of the ITI student Vikramjit Singh, 22, of Nanaksar locality in Tarn Taran.
During the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, some burglars decamped with firearms, its rounds and a DVR of closed circuit television (CCTV) by breaking the gun house’s wall. The firearms were deposited by people when the election code was in force.
According to police, the ITI student along with his three friends—two of them air conditioner (AC) fitters—had committed the crime. However, the police refrained from identifying the third accused.
Inspector general (IG) of border range, SPS Parmar, while addressing a press conference in Jandiala, said, “A team under the supervision of senior superintendent of police (SSP-rural) Vikaramjit Singh Duggal was formed to trace the case. The team, during its investigation, found that the ITI graduate with the help of his three other friends had stolen the firearms.”
He said, “On Wednesday, the SSP along with a police team conducted a raid and arrested the accused from his house and recovered the stolen weapons from an abandoned under construction building in Tarn Taran.”
Satbir Singh, the owner of the gun house, however, had told the police that the burglars had stolen 68 firearms and 1,300 rounds.
SSP Duggal said, “We have checked the record of the gun house and found that 44 revolvers and 1,300 rounds were stolen and all of them have been recovered.”
He said, “All the accused are from Tarn Taran. They used to visit Jandiala to meet their relatives. After noticing the gun house, they planned to steal the weapons. A week before committing the crime, they did a recce of the area.”
Refuting connection of the accused with gangsters, he said, “Our preliminary investigation has found no link of the accused with any gangster. Had they been connected to a gangster, the weapons could have been disposed off till now.”
“We have registered a case under Sections 457 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment), 380 (theft in dwelling house, etc) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused at Jandiala police station. Raids are being conducted to arrest other three accused,” said the SSP.
Action to be taken against gunhouse owner
As per the guidelines, a gunhouse strongroom should be made of concrete. “We have found that the strong room was not made of concrete and many safety measures were compromised. Action will be taken against the gunhouse owner,” the SSP said. According to norms, the office of deputy commissioner and police are responsible for ensuring the safety of a gunhouse.
