E-Paper
Ludhiana: Jewellery shop robbed of ₹10-lakh valuables, police take one week to lodge FIR
Soni, a resident of Pippal Chowk in New Azad Nagar, owns the jewellery shop in Satguru Nagar; he stated that he had locked his shop as usual on March 19 and gone home; the next morning, he received a call from a neighbouring shop owner, informing him that his shop’s shutter was open
Three unidentified men broke into a jewellery shop in the Kanganwal area and made off with cash, gold, and silver worth around ₹ 10 lakh. The victim, Abhishek Kumar Soni, claimed that the stolen valuables included ₹ 3.50 lakh in cash. Despite the incident occurring on March 19, the police delayed registering an FIR for over a week.
Soni, a resident of Pippal Chowk in New Azad Nagar, owns the jewellery shop in Satguru Nagar. He stated that he had locked his shop as usual on March 19 and gone home. The next morning, he received a call from a neighbouring shop owner, informing him that his shop’s shutter was open.
Rushing to the scene, Soni discovered that the locks on the main shutter had been broken, and the glass door inside had also been shattered. “As I entered, I saw that the silver ornaments on display were missing. The almirah where I had kept cash and gold was also open, and everything was gone,” he said.
CCTV footage from the shop captured three masked men committing the crime at around 1.30am on March 20. The footage shows one suspect standing outside as a lookout while the other two broke into the shop using a sharp-edged weapon. According to the victim, they looted ₹ 3.50 lakh in cash, 3.5kg of silver, and 45 grams of gold.
Despite Soni repeatedly visiting the Kanganwal police post to get an FIR lodged, the police kept delaying the process. It was only after he sought media intervention that the police finally registered a case.
ASI Meva Singh, the investigating officer, stated that a case under sections 331 (house trespass) and 305 (theft) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered against unidentified accused on Saturday. He added that the police lodged an FIR after investigating the case. The police are now reviewing CCTV footage to identify and apprehend the culprits.
