Robbers continue to keep police on their toes

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 26

It seems that robbers are striking at their will as the police are yet to make any breakthrough in a few cases that took place in the recent past.

The repeated crime incidents have left a feeling of insecurity among the common man.

It has come to light that robbers were targeting shopkeepers who return to their home on their scooters or cars at night.

The robbers, apparently, identify their targets by conducting a recce of their movements before striking. In a majority of the cases reported in the past few weeks in the city, robbers targeted victims when they were about to reach their home or nearby. The reason behind this is that people often feel safe in surroundings that they are accustomed to.

Dilsher Singh runs a mobile phone shop in the Liberty market located on the railway link road and lives in the Verka area. A few days ago around 8.30pm, he closed his shop and was going home. As he reached just close to his house, a Maruti Suzuki Swift car came and hit his car from the rear side.

When he came out to know the extent of damage to the car, the three accused attacked him and fired a couple of gun shots in the air. They, later, took away his car. His cellphone, Rs 14,000 to 15,000 in cash and important documents were present in the car.

Similarly, several armed persons robbed of a scooter containing Rs 1.50 lakh from trader Sanjay Sehgal. The incident took place when he was going home in the Basant Avenue area in the evening on June 21.

The owner of a car showroom was also looted by some armed persons on the Majitha-Verka bypass road when he was going home after attending a marriage function. The robbers took away his wallet containing Rs 1.25 lakh along with credit and debit cards.

In another incident occurred in the Beas area, some armed robbers looted a car of a Ludhiana-based family in the intervening night of June 16 and 17.

The family was on its way after visiting Amritsar. The victims were surrounded by several cars and forced them to come out at gunpoint. The police are yet to make any breakthrough in the case.

Police Commissioner SS Srivastava said the police were working on these cases and some of them were successfully solved.

He said the positions of nakas had been reviewed and more such nakas were being planned to set up to tighten the noose around the robbers.

The Police Commissioner said, “The incident in which a scooter containing cash was forcefully taken away appears to be a little doubtful. Though the scooter was recovered, no cash was recovered in it.”