Innova snatched at gunpoint in Pathankot, police on alert

Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service
Pathankot, November 14

The police districts of Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Batala were put on high alert after four unidentified Punjabi speaking persons allegedly snatched a Toyota Innova from a cab driver near Madhopur late on Tuesday night.

Within an hour of the incident nine checkpoints were put up on the Pathankot-Gurdaspur and Batala-Amritsar national highways.

IG (Border) Surinder Pal Singh Parmar said a search had been launched to nab the accused. “The terror angle cannot be ruled out. We are not in a position to take risk particularly after the 2016 terror attack on the Pathankot Air Force station. Six teams have been formed to crack the case. Information has been sought from two toll barriers located on the Gurdaspur-Amritsar national highway,” he said.

An officer said the accused hired the Innova from Jammu railway station and were bound for Amritsar. When the vehicle reached Madhopur, one of them ordered the driver, Raj Kumar, to slow down. Subsequently, Kumar was forced to get down after one of the accused pointed a gun at him.

Minutes before the snatching, the four had dinner at a hotel on the Jammu-Madhopur road where they had picked up a fight with the hotel owner.

After being robbed of the vehicle, Raj Kumar rang up the control room. Pathankot SSP Vivek Sheel Soni and senior officers reached the spot. The hotel owner was also questioned.

The driver was questioned at Sujanpur police station by the police and officers of military intelligence. A senior officer revealed that they could not get much information from the driver as he kept changing his statement.

A special team was scanning the video footage procured from a CCTV camera installed near the Jammu station.

Security around the Army ammunition dump in Mamun cantonment was beefed up even as the Army and Air Force authorities were informed. Checking was carried out at railway stations and bus stands of Pathankot, Jhakholari, Dinanagar, Gurdaspur, Dhariwal and Batala.