Have got vital clues, claim Mohali police

Akash Ghai

Tribune News Service

Mohali, November 28

The Mohali police claimed to have got the registration number of the silver Swift car, which was used by five miscreants in yesterday’s carjacking incident on the Mullanpur-Baddi road, here.

Interestingly, the carjackers are believed to have crossed a police naka at the Mullanpur T-point twice, raising questions over their alertness.

A senior police official said the car was spotted in a CCTV footage installed at a toll plaza on the Kurali-Mullanpur road.

“The silver car, in which five miscreants had come, could be seen crossing the toll from a side lane while taking cover of a truck at 8.43 pm without paying toll tax. We have got the registration number of the car from the footage,” said the official.

It is to be noted that the miscreants had snatched a white Swift car from Amandeep Singh around 8.25 pm near a petrol pump, which is located around one km towards the Baddi side from the Mullanpur T-point, here.

According to sources, the registration plate of the silver Swift car was covered with a tape at the time of the incident following which the victim could not note down its number.

“The possibility of some fake registration number in the silver Swift car cannot be ruled out or the car could also be stolen or snatched,” said the sources.

However, the official said most probably two of the miscreants had fled towards the Ropar side while the rest of the carjackers, who were in the snatched car, had taken the route towards Parol side to flee.

After snatching the car from Amandeep Singh, who was going to his home towards the Baddi side, the miscreants took a U-turn and fled towards the Mullanpur side. The police believed that the miscreants could be from Himachal Pradesh.

“We have some vital clues. We will arrest the carjackers soon,” said Mohali SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal.

Miscreants crossed police naka twice

Eyebrows are being raised over the alertness of the local police, who had laid a naka at the Mullanpur T-point. The miscreants crossed the naka in their silver Swift car twice before and after committing the crime.

According to sources, the SHO of the Mullanpur police station was present at the naka. The miscreants, who were armed with pistols and sticks, had apparently crossed the naka before committing the crime, which had occurred just around one kilometre away from the naka.

After that the car of the miscreants is said to be seen crossing the Kurali-Mullanpur toll plaza, which evidently indicated that the miscreants had again crossed the ‘naka’ at the Mullanpur T-point to reach the toll plaza.

“Definitely the cops at the naka were not performing their duty sincerely. The miscreants seemed to be quite confident that nobody will check them or their vehicle. That’s why they dared to cross it to flee towards the Kurali side,” admitted an official. However, he maintained that the information of carjacking came to the police after 9 pm yesterday.

Cops clueless in scribe’s carjacking

The Mohali police are still clueless about the carjackers, who had taken away the Maruti Swift DZire car from a journalist of an English Daily near the TDI City in Kharar. The incident took place on the intervening night of October 27 and 28.