Scrap dealer reports 3 thefts in fortnight

Panchkula, February 16

A scrap dealer’s shop at Budanpur in Sector 17 here has reported theft for the third time in a span of two weeks.

The matter came to light after Pawan Kumar, the scrap dealer, claimed that he had filed his third complaint with officials at the Sector 16 police post since February 4.

A case in this regard was registered under Section 380 (theft in dwelling house, etc) of the Indian Penal Code at the Sector 14 police station today.

Kumar, who lives at Mauli village in Chandigarh, alleged that the police didn’t convert his two previous complaints into FIRs even as he had all CCTV records. The police, however, refuted the charge.

The complainant said the first theft took place at his scrap shop in the early hours of February 4. According to him, the miscreants broke seven locks of his shop and made off with one-year stock of scrap worth around Rs2.50 lakh.

“I wanted to liquidate the stocked material for my brother’s marriage so that we don’t have to borrow money or take a loan,” he said.

He claimed that in the second theft on February 12, the battery of his pick-up vehicle Mahindra Maxximo, which was parked outside his shop, was stolen. In the latest incident, as per the FIR, thieves again fled with the battery of his commercial vehicle.

The in-charge of the Sector 16 police post, SI Sushil Kumar, said it was for the first time that the complainant approached the police with CCTV footage. “We have immediately lodged the FIR and began an investigation into the matter,” he said.