Salon owner lends weapon on rent to robbers, arrested

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 2

The Ludhiana police today busted a gang of looters and arrested three of its members. Interestingly, one of the gang members who runs a salon in the city had lent his licensed .32 bore weapon on a rent of Rs 1 lakh for committing snatchings and robberies.

Avoid giving weapons to others, people warned

Commissioner of Police Mandeep Singh Sidhu warned people with licensed weapons to avoid giving their weapons to others or else face action and cancellation of their arms licence.

The suspects have been identified as Ravinder Singh, alias Ravi, of Model Town Extension, David Raj of Pakhowal road and Vishal Verma of Rishi Nagar, Haibowal. The police also recovered a motorcycle, a scooter, a car, and one .32 bore pistol along with two live cartridges from the gang members. A case under various sections of the IPC and the Arms Act was registered against the suspects.

Commissioner of Police (CP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu, JCP Saumya Mishra, Additional DCP Rupinder Kaur Sran, ACP Ramandeep Bhullar and SHO Kotwali Sanjiv Kapoor addressed a press conference in this regard.

Sidhu said Vishal Verma runs a salon in Sarabha Nagar market and had lent his licensed weapon to the other two for committing the crime in December last year and in lieu had taken Rs 1 lakh as rent from the suspects. “Vishal was aware that his licensed weapon would be used for snatchings and robberies. Hence, he played an equal role in the operation of gang. Now, his weapon has been impounded and the arms licence would be cancelled with immediate effect,” he said.

Recently, the gang had entered a hotel in the Kotwali area to commit a robbery but were unsuccessful in their attempt. In fact, for the past over two months, the gang had committed 13 snatchings and robberies of which some were not reported by the victims, revealed CP Sidhu.

The Commissioner of Police warned people with licensed weapons to avoid giving their weapons to others or else face action and cancellation of their arms licence.

Among the 13 incidents committed by the gang, a major incident was loot from a money changer in Pakhowal but the shop owner did not lodge any complaint with the police. Other incidents include looting of pan shops, roadside vendors and migrants, etc, said ADCP Rupinder Kaur Sran. Now, police remand of the trio would be sought from the court so that their entire criminal record could be scanned and involvement in other major loot incidents verified, she added.