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Ludhiana: ₹20-lakh foreign currency robbery masterminded by guard, say police
Four arrested; one absconding; the security guard who was employed by the victim, a Jagraon-based money changer, has been already facing four criminal cases
A security guard with criminal background and three others were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly robbing a driver of his employer (a Jagraon-based money changer) of 30,000 Canadian dollars (around ₹20 lakh), police said. The robbery had taken place near the Verka Milk Plant on January 5 when the accused posing as CIA staff officials intercepted the driver on the pretext of checking and escaped with a bag containing dollars.
Acting on the complaint filed by money changer Nitin Goyal, the police had registered a case against five persons. Four of them — Sarabjit Singh, 48, of Talwandi Rai village in Ludhiana, Harjeet Singh, 51, of Amritsar, Sakattar Singh, 48, of Amritsar and Stephen Masih, 34, of Gurdaspur — have been arrested, while their accomplice Jaspal Singh of Amritsar is still absconding. Notably, Sarabjit Singh, Harjeet Singh and Sakattar Singh are former servicemen. Sarabjit was employed as guard by the complainant.
According to Goyal’s complaint, he had sent his driver Ravi Kumar to Ludhiana by bus to deliver 30,000 Canadian dollars to a friend. As Ravi got down near the Verka Milk Plant carrying a bag with the cash, a group of men stopped him. Claiming to be CIA personnel of the Ludhiana police, they took the bag on the pretext of frisking and fled in a Toyota Innova.
After Ravi Kumar informed his employer Nitin Goyal about the incident, he filed a complaint.
Additional commissioner of police (ACP) Rupinder Singh said Goyal had received a threat around nine months ago following which he hired Sarabjit Singh as his personal security guard. “Sarabjit accompanied Goyal regularly and had full knowledge of his business activities. He realised that his employer handled large amounts of cash and planned the robbery with the help of his associates,” the official said.
He added that on January 5, Sarabjit tipped off his accomplices as soon as Goyal sent his driver to Ludhiana with the cash. “The three accused boarded the same bus in which the driver was travelling from Jagraon to Ludhiana while another followed them in an Innova. When the driver alighted near the Verka Milk Plant, the accused too got down. They posed as CIA staff officials and escaped with the cash,” he said.
The accused gave him a slip with a phone number written on it and asked to contact the number to get his bag back after investigation.
CIA-1 staff in-charge Inspector Avtar Singh said Sarabjit Singh is a history-sheeter with four FIRs already registered against him for snatching and loot, including offences under the Arms Act. “He was arrested by the Ludhiana police in a car-snatching case in 2019. It appears that proper police verification was not carried out before hiring him, and he was trusted mainly because he was an ex-serviceman,” the inspector said.
He added that the police have recovered the entire robbed amount, the Innova car used in the crime and two licensed .32 bore pistols belonging to Sarabjit Singh and Harjeet Singh, along with 12 live cartridges. Raids are on to arrest the remaining accused, the police added.
