Two posing as VB staff arrested for attempt to kidnap PSPCL officials

The Dakha police have arrested two men who allegedly impersonated as Vigilance officials to “kidnap” and “extort” money from two officials of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL).

The officials targeted by them were Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) Jaskiranpreet Singh and Junior Engineer (JE) Parminder Singh. The group reportedly forced the officials to hand over Rs 7.20 lakh. Those arrested have been identified as Gurvinder Singh from Jhil and Brahampreet Singh from Safabadi Gate, both from Patiala.

Raids are being conducted by the police to catch the remaining accused identified as Amandeep Singh of Ranjit Nagar and Vinay Arora of Qila Chowk of Patiala.

The police also recovered press ID cards from the accused, allegedly belonging to Tehelka Headlines News and Punjab News.

DSP Varinder Singh Khosa said the probe began with a complaint filed on October 15 by Jaskiranpreet Singh, the SDO at the PSPCL, Dakha.

The SDO reported that for several days, two unknown individuals had been contacting him and JE Parminder Singh regarding a power connection for a proposed plastic bottle manufacturing unit.

DSP Khosa added that the incident occurred on October 13 around 1 pm. A man who identified himself as Rajvir visited the SDO to discuss the new connection process.

Minutes later, at 1.21 pm, the SDO received a WhatsApp call from the official mobile number of Executive Engineer (XEN) Ravi Kumar, asking him to step outside his office to discuss the connection. When the SDO went out, the XEN was nowhere to be found. He then proceeded to the XEN’s room, where two unknown men were sitting.

The SDO recounted that one of the men immediately grabbed him by wrist, announcing that he was “Inspector Gagan”. The imposters claimed that the XEN had demanded a bribe of Rs 2 lakh and they possessed concrete evidence of it.

The SDO called JE Parminder Singh to the XEN’s office. Upon the JE’s arrival, the four accused — identified as Rajveer, Gagandeep and their two associates — locked the office, holding both officials hostage.

DSP Khosa said the accused forced the two PSPCL employees into a vehicle and drove them to Ludhiana.