Motive was carjacking, not kidnapping, say Amritsar police

PK Jaiswar

Amritsar, August 20

With the arrest of four persons, the city police today claimed to have cracked a kidnapping and robbery bid case in which the son of a prominent Punjabi publisher was targeted in the posh Ranjit Avenue area on July 6.

Those arrested were identified as Ramandeep Singh of Khalirpur in Batala, Vicky of Khusalpura village in Gurdaspur, Chander Kumar Sandhu, alias Shubham, of Dera Baba Nanak and Parambir Singh of Chandumajra village in Gurdaspur.

Abhimanyu Rana, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP), said that the main motive behind the incident was to steal the car. However, they were unable to drive away the car as it was an automatic vehile, and it stopped abruptly, with the 12-year-old boy in it, near Ranjit Avenue bypass road. Fearing that they would be caught, the suspects fled, leaving the boy and the car behind. It was not a kidnapping bid, as was alleged initially by the family, the ADCP said.

Prabhjot Singh, owner of a famous publishing house — Chatar Singh Jeevan Singh — had told the police that the family had gone out for dinner and his two sons, who did not wish to dine outside, remained in the car.

He said four armed persons managed to get into the car and pointed a gun at his sons. He said his elder son managed to slip out of the car while the ‘kidnappers’ drove away with his younger son. His elder son called the family and they immediately rushed to the spot.

As the vehicle was automatic, it stopped near a bakery located near the Ranjit Avenue bypass road. The vehicle had a tracker and the family located it near the bypass road and reached the spot.

The police had registered a case under Sections 363, 379-B (2), 506, 34 of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act against unknown persons at that time.

Rana said following an analysis of the footage from the CCTV cameras installed in the area and technical inputs, the police zeroed in on Ramandeep Singh and Vicky. Their arrest led the police to the two other suspects.

He said after stealing cars, the supects used to sell them to one Nanak, who used these vehicles in his criminal activities. Nanak had around four criminal cases registered against him while Ramandeep, Vicky and Chander had one case each against them.

Investigations revealed that after the unsuccessful carjacking bid on July 6, the suspects had snatched a car on July 17 in Gurdaspur district.