Police claim to crack 30-kg Ludhiana gold robbery case; gangster held

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 12

The Punjab Police on Thursday solved the sensational 30-kg gold robbery case of Ludhiana with the arrest of inter-state gangster, Gagan Judge, after high drama in the Sector 36 market here.

Gagan made an abortive attempt to fire at the Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU) team that cornered him in the market following a tip-off, but he was arrested as the police team foiled his attempt to shoot at them.

DGP Dinkar Gupta has announced a reward for the OCCU team, and said raids were being conducted to nab other members of the gang and Gagan’s accomplices in the Ludhiana case.

Gagan was among the five suspects involved in the robbery of around 30 kg of gold at gunpoint from a branch of India Infoline Finance Ltd in Ludhiana’s Gill Road area on February 17.

Four men with their faces covered had entered the IIFL branch while one stayed outside in a car, police had said earlier, adding that there was no security guard outside the branch at the time of the incident. 

The accused had then asked the staff to handover keys of the safe where the gold ornaments were kept. 

They tied the staff members with a rope and decamped with nearly 30 kg of gold ornaments.

Gagangdeep Judge alias Gagan Judge and his accomplices are reportedly involved in more than two dozen crimes of contract killing attempt to murder, extortion, auto snatching and other serious criminal activities. He was closely with associated with another absconding gangster, Jaipal.

Giving details of the operation, conducted under the close supervision of Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, IG (OCCU), said around Rs 31 lakh apart from a pistol, two magazines and 50 live cartridges had been recovered from the possession of Gagan Judge.

The IGP said the gang used to call its members on wireless handsets to avoid interception of phone calls. A stolen car i-20 car has also been recovered, he added.

Another 4-5 wanted gangsters were on the radar of the Punjab Police and efforts were being made to arrest them, the DGP said, adding that OCCU had been made fully equipped to handle such gangsters and gang-related crime. — With PTI inputs