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Ludhiana: Cops hunt women gang after fresh snatching case reported in city
The latest incident mirrors the April case in Aggar Nagar, where an elderly woman was similarly targeted
A notorious women-led gang that had kept the Punjab and Haryana police on their toes in 2021 and was last linked to a similar gold-snatching incident in April this year has resurfaced in Ludhiana after an eight-month lull, robbing an elderly woman of her gold bangle in the Model Town Extension area. The latest incident mirrors the April case in Aggar Nagar, where an elderly woman was similarly targeted, raising concerns that the gang has once again become active in the city.
According to the police, the incident took place outside Shaheed Baba Deep Singh Gurdwara in Model Town Extension. The victim, Manjeet Kaur, 58, a resident of Chhawni Mohalla, had gone to the gurdwara along with her daughter to pay obeisance. While she was parking her car outside the religious place, two women, accompanied by a male aide, intercepted her.
In her statement to the police, Manjeet Kaur alleged that the accused claimed to be her acquaintances and forcibly dragged her into a white car parked nearby. Taking advantage of the confusion, the women allegedly removed a gold bangle weighing about 15 grams from her hand and fled the spot. The victim raised an alarm, but the accused managed to escape before locals could gather.
Soon after the incident, the victim alerted the police. Acting on her complaint, the Model Town police registered an FIR against two unidentified women and their male accomplice and launched an investigation.
ASI Pardeep Kumar, who is investigating the case, said that an FIR had been registered under Sections 303(2), 318(4) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. He added that police teams were scanning CCTV footage from the area and nearby routes to identify and trace the accused.
Police sources said the modus operandi used in the latest incident closely resembled that of the gang involved in the April 25 robbery in Aggar Nagar, where an elderly woman was robbed of her gold bracelet. In that case, the Sarabha Nagar police had lodged an FIR against two unidentified women and their male accomplices.
The gang had earlier been busted on October 25, 2021, when the Ludhiana police arrested three women and their male accomplice. At that time, police recovered eight gold bangles, two gold bracelets, a gold chain, a Maruti Suzuki Swift car used in the crimes, along with fake registration certificates and fake number plates.
Investigations had revealed that the gang had executed at least 11 such thefts in Ludhiana city alone and had also committed snatchings in Jalandhar Rural, Amritsar, Kartarpur, Moga, Khanna, Jagraon and Hoshiarpur, besides several places in Haryana. The accused were known to target elderly women, luring them on the pretext of offering a lift or engaging them in friendly conversation by posing as acquaintances or relatives before robbing them of their gold ornaments.
Gang last spotted in April
The women-led gang was last reported active on April 25 this year, when an elderly woman was robbed of her gold bracelet in Aggar Nagar. Police said the modus operandi in the April incident closely mirrors the latest Model Town Extension robbery, indicating that the same gang has resurfaced after remaining inactive for nearly eight months.
