Ludhiana's Rs 1-cr gold loot case: Arrested ASI was international netball player

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, September 28

Neha, who was arrested in the Rs 1-crore gold looting case, had plans to join the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) as a constable.

This 21-year-old woman from Gurdaspur was among the five persons, including an ASI, who were caught by the Ludhiana Police Commissionerate on Tuesday night.

ASI Kamal Kishore, who was posted in Gurdaspur, was an international netball player and had represented the country several times.

These facts have come to light during the ongoing investigation into the international gold smuggling racket that was busted with the arrest of two persons and recovery of 1,230 gram of gold paste worth Rs 75 lakh and a pistol on September 9.

It was on the basis of leads gathered from interrogation that the police laid hands on another gang led by the ASI, who looted 1.6 kg of gold paste worth Rs 1-crore smuggled from Dubai through Chandigarh international airport on September 15.

Commissioner of Police (CP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu said Neha had gone to Dubai in search of work in November 2022 and got a job at a supermarket. He said: “In January, she came in contact with a Dubai-based Puneet, alias Pankaj, who was the kingpin of the racket and he kept her as a domestic help at his residence.”

Neha told the police that since she had gone to Dubai on a tourist visa and Pankaj promised her a permanent visa and a handsome salary, she started working for him. “As Pankaj failed to fulfil his promise, she left the job and came back in March,” she revealed, while claiming that the kingpin also asked her to smuggle gold but she refused.

On her return, Neha got in touch with Vishu of Saharanpur, who also worked for Pankaj and used to receive the smuggled consignments.

Distributed Rs 50 lakh

• All six members of the gang had equally distributed Rs 50 lakh generated from the sale of 725 gram of gold
• Three accused had a criminal background. While Sodhi was booked in Zirakpur in April 2022, Babba was booked in March 2016 and Babbu in October 2021

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