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Carjacker killed, 2 held in encounter as police give chase from Mohali to Naina Devi
Five criminals had snatched a Verna car from a person at gunpoint in Mohali district in Punjab. After receiving information the police had chased them.
A 22-year-old alleged gangster from Gurdaspur was killed and two others were arrested in an encounter with the Punjab police in Naina Devi town in Himachal Pradesh’s Bilaspur district bordering the state in the early hours of Saturday, police said.
The man killed was identified as Samuel Masih alias Sunny, Bilaspur superintendent of police Ashok Kumar said, adding that five criminals had snatched a Hyundai Verna sedan from a person at gunpoint in Mohali district, and thus police chased them. When the police team reached close to them near the PWD rest house in Naina Devi area, one of the criminals opened fire at them, the SP claimed; “te police retaliated, in which one of the criminals sustained serious injuries”. Masih was taken to a hospital in Anandpur Sahib, where he succumbed to his injuries, the SSP informed.
Mohali senior superintendent of police Kuldeep Singh Chahal and other police officials reached the spot of the encounter. The SP said several cases were already registered against these men at various police stations of Punjab. Police in Mohali said Masih and his four accomplices fired at a businessman and snatched his Verna car on the Landran-Banur road near Santemajra in Mohali on Friday night.
After the encounter, police arrested his aides Amanpreet of Morinda and Goldi Masih of Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur and recovered the snatched Verna along with two .30-bore pistols and cartridges. Two of his other aides — Sanju of Moga and Varun Sood of Morinda — managed to escape.
The snatching that started it
The car (UP-37H-7272) is owned by Rituraj Singh, a businessman who was visiting Kharar to meet his brother-in-law Navneet Singh, who works in a private company. Navneet told police that he along with Rituraj had gone out for dinner at 11.30pm on Friday and Navneet was driving the vehicle. When they reached near a marriage palace, a white Maruti Ritz car intercepted them.
“Five young men stepped out of the vehicle. Two of them were brandishing guns,” Navneet told the police. “They started arguing with me over driving on the wrong side and asked me to step out. As we stepped out of the vehicle, one of them fired at us. They then sped away in our vehicle.” Navneet immediately called the police.
SSP led chase
Senior cops, including DSP (city) Ramandeep and crime investigation agency (CIA) in-charge Tarlochan Singh, reached the spot and started investigations. “We traced the vehicle as it passed through toll plazas,” said Mohali SSP Chahal, who led the operation. “We chased them up to Naina Devi. They fired at us near the PWD rest house, upon which we retaliated,” he claimed.
He said the men had cases of robbery and snatching registered against them in Gurdaspur, Kharar and Himachal Pradesh. On Navneet’s statement, a case under sections 395 (dacoity) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under various sections of the Arms Act was registered.
(With inputs from PTI)
