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Mohali encounter: Carjacker’s father held for staging his kidnapping
The accused, Harpal Singh, a government doctor and resident of Rajpura, is the father of Paramveer Singh, alias Prince, who suffered two bullet wounds in the Saturday encounter with Mohali police
A day after two carjackers were shot in the legs as they tried to flee on being intercepted by cops at Saneta in Sohana; the Punjab Police have arrested the father of one of the accused for staging his kidnapping in November.
The accused, Harpal Singh, a government doctor and resident of Rajpura, is the father of Paramveer Singh, alias Prince, who suffered two bullet wounds in the Saturday encounter. The other accused, Karamjit Singh of Kurukshetra, Haryana, who sustained one bullet injury, is Paramveer’s cousin.
According to the FIR registered at City Rajpura police station on Sunday, Harpal on November 18 submitted a short audio clip with a complaint to the Patiala police, alleging that his son Paramveer was kidnapped for extortion.
According to police sources, co-accused Karamjit, during interrogation by the CIA staff of Mohali police, revealed that he was the one who sent the audio recording using an international number on his uncle Harpal’s directions itself.
The number belonged to one Harpreet Singh, alias Makhan of Patiala.
After being informed about this by their Mohali counterparts and verifying the facts, Patiala police booked Harpal, along with Paramveer, Karamjit and Harpreet under Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 186 (voluntarily obstructs any public servant in the discharge of his public functions), 182 (false information, with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person), 211 (false charge of offence made with intent to injure) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
As per the FIR, Karamjit, along with Harpreet, went to Paramveer’s house on November 18, where they met Harpal.
There, Harpal shared that he repeatedly received calls from local police to inquire about his son.
“Conniving with the co-accused, Harpal planned to stage a fake kidnapping of his son. He asked the trio to call him from an international number, following which Harpal would get police security and cops won’t inquire further about Paramveer. To execute the plan, Paramveer, Harpreet and Karamjit went to Banur in another car and sent an audio message to Harpal from Harpreet’s international number, revealing Paramveer’s kidnapping, following which Harpal submitted a false complaint with Patiala police,” the FIR read.
Harpal, according to the FIR, had earlier also sought police protection, claiming that some unidentified men opened fire outside his house.
“It has come to fore that Harpal had borrowed money from some people and after he failed to return it, he was getting threats. So, he planned to get police protection,” a senior police officer said.
On Saturday, the Mohali CIA team, led by DSP Gursher Sandhu and inspector Shiv Kumar, had nabbed Karamjit and Paramveer, allegedly wanted for at least six cases of carjacking and extortion in Mohali.
The accused were driving a car they had snatched in November when they encountered the police. They were shot in the legs as they opened fire at the CIA team in a bid to flee.
