Vehicle thieves’ gang busted in Patiala, three arrested

Our Correspondent

Patiala, November 19

The Patiala police and Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU) claimed to have busted an inter-state vehicle lifters’ gang who used to take away vehicles from national highways at gunpoint for various criminal activities in the region. The police also claimed to have recovered two vehicles, a .32 bore pistol, along with five live cartridges, and two .315 bore countrymade pistols from the possession of the arrested persons.

The accused were identified as Parminder Singh, alias Tiger, a resident of Tarn Taran district, Sonu Sharma, alias Don, a resident of Khanna city; and Kulwinder Singh, alias Kindi, a resident of Dhura village, near Dhuri town of Sangrur district. While two members of the gang, Gurdeep Singh, alias Manna, of Mehal Kalan village in Barnala district and Aman Kumar, alias Amna, of Jaito in Faridkot district, managed to flee the spot.

SSP, Patiala, S Bhupathi, said the gang was active for the past five months in Punjab and it had taken away several vehicles on national Highways. The miscreants had snatched two Honda City cars, from Nawanshahr and Gobindgarh areas, respectively; a Swift car from the Dhuri area; and a Toyota Corola car and Hyundai Verna car from the Jagraon area.

Bhupathi said the miscreants had affixed fake number plates on a Swift car and were on their mission to commit another crime. However, the police party arrested them from Kharajpur village, near Rajpura.

The SSP said with the arrest of the gang members, several cases had been traced and investigations were on to trace out more cases.

A case was registered under Sections 399, 402, 473 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 25/54/59 of the Arms Act at the City Rajpura police station.

Modus operandi

Bikramjit Singh Brar, in-charge, CIA staff, Patiala-2, who was leading the police party, said with the help of arms, the miscreants used to snatch vehicles at gunpoint from commuters on the highway.

He added that they also opened fire to threaten drivers and passengers to act swiftly.