Lock dealer shot at in office

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 20

Armed men shot at a lock distributor in his office on the Kalgidhar road, Field Ganj, on Wednesday afternoon. The dealer suffered three bullet injuries on his legs and was rushed to the CMCH. His condition was stated to be stable.

Commissioner of Police Sukhchain Singh Gill, DCP-Crime Gaganajit Singh, ADCP 1 Gurpreet Singh Sikand, ACP-Crime Surinder Mohan, ACP-Central Mandeep Singh, ACP-North Gurpreet Singh Tiwana and SHOs visited the spot for investigation.

Preliminary probe suggested the robbers had not come to kill the dealer as they fired on his legs only. His family denied having any enmity or financial dispute with anybody.

The incident occurred around 2.25 pm when a white-coloured car stopped outside the Chaddha Stores. Three masked men alighted from it and barged into the store. Its owner, Tarlochan Singh (58), was sitting along with his friend Kamal Kapoor inside the cabin while his brother Kuldeep was in the washroom.

“Three armed men came here. One of them quickly opened the cabin room and fired at Tarlochan at close range. Tarlochan suffered two bullet injuries on the right leg and one on the left leg. His friend Kamal, who was also sitting along with him, hid beneath the table to save his life. Within half a minute, the shooter left the store, and also put the shutter down before getting in the car,” said Additional DCP Gurpreet, adding that the robbers had not spoken even a single word, they just came and shot the owner.

The ADCP said loot or killing was seemingly not the motive as the robbers specifically fired on the legs. “We have recovered CCTV footage of the car which entered the Kalgidhar road from the Field Ganj side and later was driven towards the CMC road,” he said.

Surinder Mohan, ACP-Crime, said a .32-bore revolver was used in the crime and three empty cartridges were also recovered from the spot. 

Eyewitness account

Manu, a worker at an electrical shop located opposite Chaddha Stores, said: “I saw a white Swift car stop outside the store and three masked men with weapons alight from it. While one kept on sitting in the car the others barged into the store. I heard sound of gunshots and within 30 seconds, the armed men came out and fled the scene.” Another eyewitness, Kamal Kapoor, said he was sitting along with the store owner, Tarlochan Singh, inside his office when he noticed three masked men enter the store. He also alerted the owner, but before he could do anything, they entered the cabin and fired three shots at Tarlochan”.

The victim was also targeted on June 13 

Harsimran Chaddha, son of Tarlochan Singh, said on June 13 night, he, along with his father, was heading home from the store on his car. Around 11.25 pm, armed men rammed their car into ours at the Raghunath turn, BRS Nagar. When the duo stopped their car, two masked men, carrying weapons, alighted from the other vehicle. Fearing attack, he drove to the Sarabha Nagar police station, said Harsimran. “We also filed a complaint and the police conducted a probe. But they failed to trace the suspects then. It could be possible that the same armed men attacked his father on Wednesday,” he said.