Three nabbed with stolen heritage cannon
Chandigarh, September 9
Nearly four months after a 3-ft-long heritage cannon, weighing about 300 kg, was stolen from the GO Mess building of the 82 Battalion, Punjab Armed Police (PAP), Sector 1, the Crime Branch of the UT police has apprehended three suspects, including a cook employed at the mess and a juvenile.
The theft from a high-security area was reported by Balwinder Singh, Commandant of the 82 Battalion, who stated that a brass cannon was stolen from inside the GO mess building near the main gate.
An internal inquiry conducted by the Punjab Police had revealed that the theft occurred on the night of May 5.
Subsequent investigations by a team of the Crime Branch, led by DSP (Crime) Udaypal Singh, led to the arrest of the three suspects, identified as Subham Sharma (23), who worked as a cook at the GO mess, Sanjay Kumar (29), a resident of Kaimbwala, who is a DJ, and a juvenile. They were apprehended while transporting parts of the stolen cannon from Kaimbwala to Nayagaon.
Preliminary investigation indicates that Subham, who had been employed as a cook on a contract basis at the mess for the past five years, devised a plan to steal the heritage cannon. He, along with the juvenile, put the cannon on a scooter and escaped by deceiving the on-duty police personnel. They tried to sell the cannon with the help of the third suspect. However, the fear of getting caught made them dismantle the cannon and conceal it in a forested area.
The three were caught while transporting the parts of the cannon from the area.
Main suspect son of Home Guard
Subham’s father is a Home Guard with the Punjab Police, posted in Jalandhar. The police said the suspect put the cannon on a scooter and escaped from another gate which is not guarded by the sentry on duty.
