E-Paper
Year-ender: Criminals keep police on toes in Ludhiana
Here is a look at the hits and misses of the Ludhiana police department during 2023, which saw the crime graph go up in Ludhiana
The city witnessed major crime incidents in 2023, including two triple murders, gang rapes and biggest robberies in the history of the city, indicating a rising trend of crime in Ludhiana during the year.
Even though the police department solved all the major cases, prevention of crime remained a reason for worry for the entire year. Unabated snatchings, robberies and burglaries are a cause of concern in the industrial city.
Three miscreants, wanted in separate cases, were killed by the police in an exchange of bullets within 15 days in the last month of the year.
The year also saw a change of guard with Kuldeep Singh Chahal taking over as the new commissioner of police.
Triple murder case
The murder case of a retired assistant sub-inspector Kuldeep Singh, 65, his wife Paramjeet Kaur, 60, and son Gurwinder Singh alias Pali Grewal, 30, in their house in Noorpur Bet village of Ladhowal area on May 21 had kept the police in a tizzy for many weeks. All the theories adopted by the police fell flat. The Phillaur police had claimed to solve the triple murder case with the arrest of a drug addict Prem Chand, alias Mithun, 25, a resident of Awankha village of Dinanagar tehsil in Gurdaspur district. The Phillaur police had arrested him in a case of attempt to murder and theft case. During interrogation, the accused confessed to the crime.
Murder accused on the run
Jobanjit Singh, a prime accused in murder case of money exchanger and shoe trader Manjit Singh is still on the run, while his aides were arrested by the police. The accused suspected that he had fled to some foreign country. Manjit was stabbed to death with an ice pick on April 11 in Model gram area near his house.
Higher fatality rate
Known as the industrial hub of Punjab, the city has earned the tag of being on the top place in fatality rate in road mishaps. According to the road and transport ministry, as many as 364 people lost their lives in road accidents this year, which marks a decline from 380 deaths recorded in 2021. But the city is still on the top of the table with at least 78% fatality rate. Punjab is already on the third place in case of mortality rate with 77.5%, while national average of mortality rate is 28 percent.
Bribe
A number of police personnel were arrested by the vigilance bureau for accepting bribes. At least 10 policemen were arrested by the vigilance bureau during the year. The staggering number sets a new record for graft arrests within the police force, surpassing employees from other government departments and even the municipal corporation of Ludhiana.
Misuse of traffic marshals
The traffic police landed in controversy for using traffic volunteers in stopping the vehicles for checking. The additional director general of police, traffic, had sought an action taken report from the Ludhiana Police over the traffic police personnel ‘misusing their powers’ and deploying a traffic marshal to stop vehicles and issue challans instead of manning traffic at critical junctures.
₹8.49 crore robbery case solved
The police have solved ₹8.49 crore robbery at a CMS company in the city with the arrest of a woman among the 18 accused. The police had recovered a total of ₹7.14 crore robbed money from the accused, while ₹1.35 crore was not recovered. According to the police, an employee of CMS, a cash management company, had hatched the conspiracy and involved others.
₹4 crore robbery at house of doctor couple solved
The police solved a multi-crore heist at the house of a doctor couple with the arrest of four accused and recovered a whopping ₹3.51 crore from their possession. The police had also recovered jewellery worth ₹22 lakh from the accused. Earlier, the doctor couple had reported a robbery of ₹15 lakh and jewellery from the house.
Triple murder case cracked
The police solved the triple murder case of Chaman Lal, 70, his wife Bachan Kaur, 67, and mother Surjit Kaur, 90, of New Janakpuri of Salem Tabri with the arrest of one of their neighbours within 12 hours of the incident being reported. According to the police, the victim, Bachan, had allegedly taunted the accused repeatedly for his inability to father a child despite being married for five years, which triggered him to execute the crime.
Encounter of two gangsters involved in kidnapping of hosiery owner
The police cracked the kidnapping case of the hosiery owner with the arrest of three accused, while two gangsters, including Sanjiv Kumar alias Sanju Bahman and Shubham alias Gopi were killed in exchange of bullets with police near Tibba Bridge. One of the police personnel also suffered injuries in the encounter. Sambhav was kidnapped in his car on November 17 from Bahadurke road minutes after he left the factory. The accused had shot Sambhav Jain in his leg when he resisted and kept on roaming for three hours in the car.
Gang rape of 19-yr-old girl
The police solved the kidnapping and rape case of a 19-year-old girl with the arrest of three accused, including a minor within two days of the crime. The accused had kidnapped the girl from the Canal Bridge at Gill Road at 6 am on December 19 and gang raped her after taking her to an isolated place in Kaind village.
