Rs 8.4 lakh robbery case solved, four arrested

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 26

With the arrest of four persons, the local police on Wednesday claimed to have cracked the robbery case in which a gas agency cashier was attacked and robbed of Rs 8.40 lakh when he was going to deposit the same with a bank around nine days ago.

Those arrested were identified as Nareshdeep Puri, alias Raja, of Fateh Singh Colony, Inderjit Singh of Indira Colony, Harpal Singh of Jhabal Road and Gurpreet Singh of Indira Colony, located at Jhabal road. The police recovered a .315 bore country-made pistol with one live cartridge besides Rs 4 lakh that they had looted from the victim.

Bharat Bhushan, a cashier of Sikka Gas Agency, owned by BJP leader Anuj Sikka, was going to deposit the cash with a bank on June 17 when the accused chased and tried to intercept him near the office. Bhushan entered a scrap dealer’s shop to get shelter. They attacked him with sharp weapon, leaving him grievously injured. They snatched his bag containing money at gunpoint and fled the scene.The incident was captured in a CCTV camera of the scrap dealer shop which helped the police in identifying the suspects.

Police Commissioner SS Srivastava said the accused were nabbed near Sakatri Bagh following a tip-off. He said Nareshdeep was the mastermind.

On the basis of information provided by the accused during interrogation, the police have also nominated another suspect, identified as Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Kot Mangal Singh area, Tarn Taran road.

DCP (Investigations) Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar said it has been learnt that Kuldeep, who has worked with the gas agency, informed the robbers about the timings when Bhushan usually left for depositing cash. Raids are being conducted to nab him, he added.