Nine days after a petrol pump in Dugri was robbed of ₹81,000, six gang members were arrested for the crime under the Dhuri Railway overbridge on Sunday.
Those arrested are Gurdeep Singh of Shimlapuri, Kulwinder Kumar of Jalandhar, Hardeep Singh of Hoshiarpur, Vijay Kumar of Una (Himachal Pradesh), Satnam Singh of Jalandhar and Himanshu Heer of Basti Jodhewal. Two unlicenced pistols, ammunition, sharp-edged weapons, vehicles used to commit the robbery and ₹36,000 were seized from them.
Joint commissioner of police (JCP, rural) Sachin Gupta said, “The gang has carried out a series of robberies and snatchings across Punjab. Kulwinder had purchased the two pistols for ₹11,000 and ₹9,000 from Uttar Pradesh. They were planning another robbery under the overbridge when they were arrested.”
Before committing the robbery, Gurdeep had carried out a reconnaissance of the petrol pump and relayed the information to Kulwinder, who came to Ludhiana with Hardeep and Vijay on their scooters. They had assembled at Gurdeep’s house and hatched the plan. A day before the robbery, Gurdeep had taken all his accomplices to the filling station, Gupta said.
On June 11, the bike-borne accused turned up at the filling station posing as customers and overpowered the staff.
The accused had met in Hoshiarpur Jail where they were serving time for different crimes. After getting bail, they carried out a spree of robberies and snatchings, the JCP said.
{{/usCountry}}The accused had met in Hoshiarpur Jail where they were serving time for different crimes. After getting bail, they carried out a spree of robberies and snatchings, the JCP said.
{{/usCountry}}Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP, City 2) Jaskiranjit Singh Teja said the accused have confessed to carrying out 10 snatchings and robberies in the last year.
All of them are history-sheeters and have multiple cases already registered against them. Kulwinder has seven criminal cases lodged against him, including snatching and theft; Himanshu is wanted for two counts of forgery and theft; Vijay is facing trial in two cases of rape and drug peddling; Satnam has three cases lodged against him, including drug peddling and attempt to murder; while Hardeep is already wanted for drug peddling and assault.