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Gharuan carjacking: Police working with dating app officials to identify other victims
Mohali police on Wednesday said that they have started the process to identify four other victims of the gang which had robbed a Class 12 student of his car on December 28, by luring him to a secluded spot in Gharuan through a dating app
Mohali police on Wednesday said that they have started the process to identify four other victims of the gang which had robbed a Class 12 student of his car on December 28, by luring him to a secluded spot in Gharuan through a dating app.
Police have contacted officials of the app and sought details of people who the gang had contacted through their platform.
A member of the gang, identified as Khushal Singh, had been arrested on Tuesday, while his accomplices Ranvir Singh and Jyoti are on the run. All of them are between the age of 20 and 22. Two cars -- one robbed from the student and another Swift Dzire used in the crime -- were recovered from Khushal.
“The victim initially did not reveal the exact story and kept changing his statement. After we arrested Khushal, he told us that they had lured and robbing five victims, including the Class 12 student, through the app, in the past two months,” said a senior police officer.
He added that Ranvir is the mastermind of the gang and knows about the other victims, who are from Mohali, Kharar, Gharuan and Khanna in Ludhiana.
“Since we don’t know about the other victims, we have asked the app staff to share details of the people who came in touch with the accused and share chats, so that we can approach them and get FIRs registered on the basis of their complaints. The same gang had targeted another Gharuan resident and robbed him of ₹80,000, two days before targeting the 18-year-old student. We are also searching for him”, a senior officer added.
Mohali senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sandeep Kumar Garg had revealed that earlier, this gang used to rob people of their mobile phones or cash, but this time, they fled with the victim’s car, besides ₹700 cash and mobile phone.
“It is very important that people ensure authenticity of the profile they meet through such apps,” said SSP Garg.
A CIA team had nabbed Khushal from his hometown of Fatehgarh Sahib .Police said he was traced with the help of CCTV footage. As the car robbed from the student was low on fuel, the accused had to ask their accomplices to get petrol from a pump. With the help of CCTV footage, police were able to trace the route taken by them.
“We are trying to trace the remaining accused and our teams are raiding their possible hideouts in Khanna, Samrala and Fatehgarh Sahib. They will be arrested soon,” a senior police officer said.
