4 armed men loot gold jewellery worth Rs 8 lakh

Tribune News Service
Amritsar, January 29

Four unidentified armed men looted gold jewellery worth around Rs8 lakh from a goldsmith at his shop in the Habibpura area on the Sultanwind road here on Tuesday evening. The goldsmith was closing the shutters of his shop when the suspects looted the gold jewellery at gunpoint.

Claiming that they have received vital clues in the case, the police said the culprits would be arrested soon.

Abdul, who runs a shop of polishing gold jewellery on the second floor of a private building, said the market was closed earlier due to consistent rain.

“Around 7 pm, I locked the outer gate of my shop. Around 9 pm when I opened the gates before closing the shop, four armed men came and detained me and my workers. They took out gold jewellery of around 300 gm and fled away. They also threatened me to shoot if I raised the alarm or shouted for help,” said Abdul. He told the police that one of the culprits was elderly and limping.

Gurwinder Singh, SHO, Division B police station, said preliminary investigation revealed the armed men hid on the roof and no one noticed them as there was no rush in the market due to rain.

It has been learnt that the police have recovered the looted jewellery worth Rs1 lakh, which had fallen when the armed men were escaping. The police have also obtained CCTV footage and said investigations were on to identify the robbers.

Prisoner escapes from custody, 2 cops booked

A prisoner lodged in a Hoshiarpur jail escaped from police custody at Mallian village in the Jandiala Guru area here on Tuesday. Two policemen were taking the inmate, identified as Harpreet Singh, back to Hoshiarpur after producing him in a Tarn Taran court.

According to information, two unidentified persons helped him escape police custody. Head Constables Surjit Singh and Kishori Lal, who were assigned the task to produce the inmate in the court, have been booked. A case under Section 223 and 224 of the IPC has been registered against the inmates and those who helped him escape police custody.

Inspector Manmohan Kumar from the Hoshiarpur police said Harpreet was wanted in several cases in the Jandiala Guru area. He was taken to Tarn Taran in connection with a theft case.

The Inspector said the policemen and the inmate were returning to Hoshiarpur in a vehicle and they stopped for lunch at a dhaba in Mallian village. He said two unidentified persons reached the stop and pushed the policemen when they were having lunch. Thereafter, they took Harpreet along with them in a car.