3 gang members held for involvement in 34 ATM loots in Punjab

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 25

Kapurthala Police on Tueday claimed to have arrested a gang of three involved in loot of 34 ATMs across Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh over the past four years. The gang had collectively looted an amount of Rs 3.25 crore.

The arrest follows their 34th loot at Oriental Bank of Commerce in Sultanpur Lodhi on the intervening night of July 19 and 20 where they had taken away Rs 11.43 lakh.

The three accused are Inderjit Singh of Rama Mandi, Jalandhar, Amrik Singh of Tarn Taran and Prince of Jalandhar Cantonment.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Kapurthala SSP Sandeep Sharma said a Hyundai Verna car which was used in the loot figured in one of the CCTVs. The same car bearing a fake number plate PB-07-AM-8224 with three persons inside was stopped at a naka on Monday. When the car was checked, it was found to be fitted with gas cylinders and pipes. During search Inderjit was found to be in possession of a countrymade pistol, six cartridges and some intoxicating capsules and pills. Rs 10 lakh in cash was also recovered.

They have been booked them under Sections 392, 482, 457, 380 and 411 of the IPC. IG Jalandhar Arpit Shukla said the gang was involved in three ATM loots in 2013, 20 in 2014, two in 2015, eight in 2016 and one at Sultanpur Lodhi this year.

The various ATMs looted by the gang include those at Sham Churasi, Begowal, Hoshiarpur, Mahilpur, Baba Bakala, Bhikhowal, Tarn Taran, Talwara, Talwandi Chaudharian, Didwindi, Kansipur in Utrakhand, Kangra in HP and Lucknow in UP.  

Shukla said one of the accused was an employee of a car showroom and had started off by looting cars as they did with a doctor at Amritsar two months back. “They eventually specialised in gas cutting and found this crime lucrative. We have started assessing details of various properties and investments that they had made using the crime proceeds. We will get them implicated and eventually recover all these properties,” he said.