Armed men take away 128 bags of paddy from godown

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 16

Miscreants stole 128 bags of paddy from the Pungrain godown located on the Goniana-Lakhi Jungal road here on Friday night. They also beat up security guards and held them hostage inside a room. This godown is spread over 16 acres and Third Eye Security Company looks after security of the godown.

Company’s security guard Raj Singh said, “Eight guards keep a watch on the godown and on Friday night, Leela Singh, Jeet Singh, Darshan Singh, Jagsir Singh, Buta Singh and Sewak Singh were on duty when 15-20 armed men entered the godown and started beating up them.”

“Though one of the security guards had a gun, it did not work at that moment due to some technical issue. After beating up the security guards, the miscreants tied their hands and legs and locked them inside a room. Thereafter, they decamped with 128 bags of paddy from godown number one,” he added.

The staff came in the morning and opened the door. Thereafter, they informed the police about this incident.

A police team, Pungrain inspector Mohit Kumar and security company’s official Varinder Kumar reached the spot. Three months ago, 58 bags of paddy were also stolen from the godown.

Ajaib Singh Dhaliwal, cluster officer of Agro Indian Limited, which is looking after the godown, confirmed the robbery.

He said on Saturday morning, he came to know about the incident. He blamed Moga-based Third Eye Security Company for the incident.

“The security company deputed guards without arms due to which such incidents had also reported in the past. I don’t have responsibility of security,” he added.

Inspector Angrej Singh, SHO of the Nehiawala police station, said they had visited the spot and started a probe into the incident.