Inter-state gang of vehicle lifters busted, 6 arrested

Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, February 25

The district police have claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of vehicle looters by arresting six members of the gang.

The police recovered two country-made pistols, 10 live cartridges, besides sharp-edged weapons and 845 gm of intoxicant powder from the accused.

The police had received information that a gang was planning a dacoity in the area. Acting on this, a team of cops made a plan and arrested six members of the gang who were hiding in a deserted room of the Forest Department near village Mastival, Canal Chowk, while two members of the gang fled from the spot.

The arrested accused were identified as gang leader Kuldeep Singh, alias Deepa, a resident of Kalanaur, Harjeet Singh, alias Babu, a resident of Kalanaur, Sukhwinder Singh, a resident of Mahal, Ravinder Kumar, alias Roshan, a resident of Bhagatana Bohadwala, Paramjit Singh, a resident of Lukhan Kalan Kalanaur, all of district Gurdaspur. Another accused was identified as Inderjit Singh, a resident of Chatiwind district in Amritsar.

A car and a four-wheeler were recovered from the accused, while a car is already in the custody of the police.

The SSP of the area said they had hired a vehicle from Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh and snatched it from the driver in Chintapurni.

An FIR in this regard was recorded at the Dehra police station of Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh. In one more case, the accused had hired a Maruti Swift car from Samba to Hoshiarpur and under the Haryana police station had snatched it near Hussainpur Lalowal village.

The police said the gang had stolen/looted and sold seven trucks and tippers from Fatehgarh Choodian, Dera Baba Nanak, Amritsar, Karnal (Haryana) and sold these after changing the numbers in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Prior to this, four cases were registered against the accused, Sukhraj, alias Sukhha, for murder, loot and abduction. Even against Harjeet Singh there were five cases of theft, snatching in Kalanaur and Himachal Pradesh.

The accused will now be produced in court.