The police claimed to have busted a gang of robbers, which stole batteries worth lakhs of rupees from towers of telecom companies. A technician of a company was mastermind in the gang and a granthi was also a member of it.
Those arrested have been identified as Satnam Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Davinder Singh, Gurdeep Singh and Harkanwaljit Singh.
Gurdeep Singh, a 'granthi', allegedly arranged weapons from Uttar Pradesh for the gang, the police said. They have recovered 30 batteries, three pistols, 10 live cartridges, 610-gm toxic powder, one Scorpio car and a Mahindra vehicle.
Talking to mediapersons, ADCP (crime) HS Brar said, "We were receiving regular complaints that a gang had allegedly stolen batteries worth lakhs of rupees from telecom towers. On a tip-off, a 'naka' was laid and the suspects, who were travelling in a Scorpio car, were nabbed. Three pistols were also seized from them. During preliminary questioning, they admitted to involvement in 38 cases of theft."
Davinder Singh, the mastermind, who is a technician with one of the companies where the gang struck, opened the locks in such a way that no theft alarm was raised, said the police officer.
The gang was active in the Majha as well as Doaba region