Truck hijacked from city recovered from Haryana's Sonepat
Ex-owner, driver among three held | Wanted to use vehicle for smuggling drugs from Rajasthan
The Ludhiana police claimed to have cracked the truck hijack case within 12 hours of the incident. Three accused, including former truck owner and driver, both residents of Sonepat, Haryana, were among the three arrested by the police. The key accused, who is former truck owner, already has a drug smuggling case registered against him in the Khanna police district. He wanted to use the hijacked truck for smuggling narcotics.
The former truck driver, who was earlier employed by the key accused, was also arrested for giving information about location of the vehicle at the time of incident. The police also recovered the hijacked truck from Sonepat in Haryana.
The arrested accused were identified as Lovedeep Singh (34), a resident of Sector 27, Sonepat, Ranjit Singh (66), a resident of Sonepat, and Gurtej Singh (40), a resident of Sahnewal. Gurtej is former truck driver employed by Lovedeep. Apart from recovering truck (bearing registration number RJ 09GC 8757), the police also seized Brezza car (bearing registration number HR10 AM 2386) used by the accused in the incident.
While addressing a press conference, Additional DCP Sameer Verma stated that on March 2 at around 3.30 pm the police received information that a truck was hijacked from Guru Vihar Basti, Jodhewal, Ludhiana. After verifying information, a police party was immediately dispatched to nab the accused. After verifying the exit route of the truck through the footage of the CCTV cameras of toll barriers and private establishments, the police party managed to arrest the accused from Sonepat.
“The key accused Lovedeep confessed that he was first owner of the truck and had sold it in 2016. Complainant Harchand Singh of Panjeta village, Ludhiana, was third owner of this truck. Lovedeep hatched a conspiracy to snatch truck along with his former driver Gurtej. It was Gurtej, who did recce of the present location of the truck, and passed on information to the key accused,” Verma said.
ADCP said Lovedeep, who came out on bail in January this year in a drug smuggling case, decided to continue his illegal activities through his links with Rajasthan-based smugglers. After hijacking truck, the accused wanted to use it to smuggle narcotics from Rajasthan to Punjab. The other two accused involved in the incident were still at large, Verman said, while adding that raids were on to nab them.
