In a shocking incident, four men posing as police officers kidnapped two officials of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) at gunpoint from their office in Dakha on October 13.
Assaulting the victims, the accused forced them to arrange ₹7.20 lakh from their family members and relatives for their release. After getting the ransom, the kidnappers fled after dropping the victims near the old Octroi Post on Ludhiana-Ferozepur Road.
Cracking the case in four days, police on Friday arrested two of the accused, Gurinder Singh and Brahmpreet Singh, from Patiala. Their accomplices, Vinay Arora and Amandeep Singh, remain at large.
The victims are Jaskiranpreet Singh, a sub-divisional officer (SDO), and Parminder Singh, a junior engineer, at PSPCL office, Dakha.
In his complaint to police, Jaskiranpreet narrated that the accused visited the office on October 13 on the pretext of securing a power connection for a plastic bottle production unit.
After enquiring about the formalities, they left the office. After sometime, when he went to the office of executive engineer Ravi Kumar Chopra in the same complex, he found the accused there, with Chopra not in the office.
{{/usCountry}}After enquiring about the formalities, they left the office. After sometime, when he went to the office of executive engineer Ravi Kumar Chopra in the same complex, he found the accused there, with Chopra not in the office.
{{/usCountry}}The SDO alleged that the accused, claiming to be from the Special Task Force (STF) Vigilance Wing, restrained him by the wrist. They claimed that they were conducting a raid to arrest them as Chopra had demanded a bribe of ₹2 lakh from someone.
Confused, he summoned junior engineer Parminder Singh to the executive engineer’s office.
The accused then proceeded to kidnap them at gunpoint and took them towards Ludhiana in a Toyota Corolla. The accused threatened to kill them and forced them to arrange money for their release. After they arranged ₹7.20 lakh from their families, they dropped them near the old Octroi Post in Ludhiana and fled.
Following the complaint, police lodged an FIR on October 15 under Sections 140(1) (kidnapping or abducting a person with the intent that the person be murdered or be put in danger of being murdered), 319 (2) (cheating by personation), 308 (5) (extortion) and 3(5) (common intention) of BNS.
“Launching a probe, police arrested two of the accused. A hunt is underway for the arrest of their accomplices,” said deputy superintendent of police (DSP, Dakha) Varinder Singh Khosa.