City, Delhi cops crack robbery at ex-min’s house; 3 nabbed

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 20

The Ludhiana police in a joint operation with the Delhi Police cracked a major robbery occurred at the house of former SAD minister Jagdish Singh Garcha (88). The police arrested three persons, including the key suspect, a Nepalese servant.

The suspects have been identified as Karan Bahadur (20), Sarjan Shahi (21) and Kishan Bahadur (31), all natives of Nepal. One of their accomplices, David, also from Nepal, is at large. The police recovered gold ornaments worth Rs 1 crore, Rs 2.76 lakh in cash, five branded watches, coins of various countries, pearls and a silver glass.

Commissioner of Police (CP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu, JCP Jaskiranjit Singh Teja and ADCP Suhail Qasim Mir addressed a press conference in this regard.

Notably on September 18, a male domestic help, Karan Bahadur, allegedly drugged Garcha (88), his wife, sister and another maid at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Nagar, Pakhowal Road, and fled with the valuables.

Sidhu revealed that considering the gravity of the case, a special SIT was formed to crack the case in the minimum possible time. After collecting vital clues about the suspects, a team was also sent to Delhi to raid the whereabouts of the suspects.

“After zeroing in on hideouts of the suspects, the Ludhiana police along with the Delhi Police apprehended the three accused and recovered the looted cash and valauables. Now after obtaining transit remand of the suspects, they are being brought to Ludhiana for further questioning,” he said.

The CP asserted that if the suspects were not nabbed now, they would have surely entered Nepal as they had already made a foolproof plan to cross the border in a day or two.

Meanwhile, Garcha’s son Harjinder Singh Garcha thanked the top cop for the quick arrest along with the entire recovery of the looted cash and valuables. He accepted the fault of his family of not ensuring police verification of the servant, which was mandatory as per law.

Had family ensured police verification, servant would have been exposed: CP

CP Sidhu claimed that had the family applied for police verification of the servant, his criminal background might had been exposed earlier as a theft case was already registered against him this year by the Mandi Gobindgarh police. “It was a blind case, we did not had any ID proof, photograph or any of his links, the police collected intelligence inputs and cracked the case. All credit goes to my team,” he said.