Bus stolen from Ludhiana parking lot, found abandoned 21 km away

Thieves stole a PRTC bus from a parking lot directly opposite the Ludhiana bus stand depot and abandoned it the next day, about 21 km from the city. Before fleeing, they removed the bus’s tyres, batteries and other valuables.

CCTV footage captured the thieves taking the bus from the parking lot. According to the bus driver, the footage showed a Bolero pickup truck arriving near the parking lot around 12.30 am on August 28, with seven to eight people inside. The group allegedly stayed there for nearly two hours, apparently conducting reconnaissance.

At around 2.20 am, when the roads were deserted, the thieves drove the bus out of the parking lot. Surprisingly, no one stopped them.

Later, near the Jagraon bridge, an auto-rickshaw and a scooter reportedly joined the bus and appeared to escort it. The scooter travelled ahead of the bus before the vehicle disappeared from the road.

The driver said the stolen vehicle was a top-of-the-line BS-VI (Phase 2-6) model equipped with advanced security systems. According to him, the bus could not normally be started without its key.

However, the thieves allegedly cut the wires connected to the starting switch and managed to start the vehicle. This suggests that someone with detailed technical knowledge of the bus may have been involved in the theft, the driver said.

The driver said he arrived for duty around 7.30 am the next morning and was shocked to find the bus missing from the parking lot. After several hours of searching, he found the bus abandoned near Dhatt village, around 21 km from the city. The vehicle had been parked on bricks, with its tyres, batteries and other valuables missing.