Carjackers on the prowl

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 21

In the second carjacking incident in less than a week, four car-borne miscreants took away an i20 car from a cab driver at gunpoint on the road separating Sector 52 and 53 near the furniture market on Wednesday morning.

The victim has identified a member of the Jodha gang as one of the accused involved in the incident.

Sources said the victim, Rajdeep Singh (23), a resident of Kharar who is a cab driver, had picked passengers from Phase 3B2, Mohali, and dropped them at the ISBT, Sector 17.

The police said after dropping the passengers, the victim was returning home when a speeding Swift Dzire came from the rear side and rammed into the i20 car, forcing the victim to stop the car around 3.30 am.

Four miscreants alighted from the Swift Dzire and got into an altercation with the victim. “Two miscreants then pulled out pistols and threatened the victim. One of them was also carrying a sharp weapon,” said the victim.

The accused then took the victim’s car and sped away from the spot. The victim’s purse and three mobile phones were also in the car.

Rajdeep said he stopped a cab and borrowed the driver’s mobile phone to call up the police. “I called up the control room several times. However, the call did not get through after which I sat in that cab and reached a Punjab Police PCR vehicle parked nearby. The police came with me to the spot and informed the Chandigarh Police about the incident,” he said.

The police have registered a case under Sections 392 (robbery) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention) of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act against the accused at the Sector 36 police station.

Mobile phones switched off

Three mobile phones of the victim were left in the car. While two mobile phones were immediately switched off, the third was switched off near Kurali. The police scrutinised the CCTV footage of the toll plaza near Ropar and found that both vehicles — the Swift Drize and the i20 — crossed it at 3.58 am.

Jodha gang active in city

A team of the crime branch had arrested four members of a gang, including Yodha Singh, alias Jodha, involved in cases of carjacking and robbing people at gunpoint in the city in a Ritz car that was forcibly taken away from a cab driver. On February 7, Jodha escaped from police custody near Khanna while he was being brought back from a court hearing at Faridkot. Since then he has been continuously striking in the city.

Recent strikes by Jodha gang

• March 15: A new Hyundai Verna car taken away at gunpoint in Sector 35 by three miscreants riding a Creta.
• March 13: A 23-year-old IT firm staffer kidnapped and robbed of 
• Rs 20,000 at gunpoint by Yodha Singh, alias Jodha, and his accomplices on the road separating Sector 49 and 50.
• March 3: Burail resident kidnapped in a Swift car, thrashed and dropped after a few minutes.
• February 27: A restaurant manager, who was returning home on his motorcycle, kidnapped at gunpoint in a Swift car on the road separating Sector 5 and 8 and robbed of Rs 10,700.
• February 21: Unidentified car-borne miscreants snatched a bag containing clothes from a man on the road separating Sectors 35 and 36
• February 20: Three miscreants riding a Swift car allegedly thrashed a Pinjore resident near Daria and escaped after snatching his mobile phone.