Patiala police bust gang of snatchers with arrest of six
The district police have busted a gang of snatchers, who used to assault their victims using sharp-edged weapons before robbing them of their belongings, in Patiala on Monday.
Police have arrested six persons indentified as Jashandeep Singh, Paramvir Singh, Abhishek Kumar, Akashdeep Sharma, Sukhvir Singh and Arshdeep Singh, all residents of Patiala and aged around 19 years.
Patiala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu said that all the accused were active in different parts of the city and were altogether involved in at least 40 cases of snatching and robbery.
“Taking a serious note of the increasing incidents of snatching, special teams were formed to trace the accused. The accused used to target commuters who were travelling on secluded roads, especially at night,” the SSP said.
He added that the accused were active in vegetable market, Banna road, DCW road, Ghalori Gate areas and roads crossing the seasonal drains on outskirts of the city.
“The accused used to target rickshaw pullers, street vendors, and traders going to the vegetable market and other commuters early in the morning and at night. The accused would not only snatch the victims’ belongings including cash, wallets, ornaments and mobile phones, but also assault them using sharp-edged weapons and seriously injure them,” SSP Sidhu said, during a media briefing.
Police have recovered a countrymade pistol, swords, knives and vehicles that the accused used while committing the crimes.
Sidhu said that during interrogation, the accused confessed that three of their accomplices, Yuvraj Singh, Malkeet Singh and Arjun Singh, are also involved in these snatching incidents.
“Police teams have been deployed to arrest the fugitive accused at the earliest so that further investigation can be taken in the cases,” he said.
Police said that more than dozen cases were registered against the accused at police stations across Patiala. Sidhu said that the main motive behind the crimes was to make easy money so as to meet the daily expenses.
A case has been registered under Sections 402 (assembling for purpose of committing dacoity), 399 (making preparation to commit dacoity) and 392 (robbery) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against all the accused.
