Armed men loot Rs10 lakh wheat from Patti godown in Tarn Taran

Nearly two dozen armed men allegedly looted 1,000 bags of wheat amounting to over ₹10 lakh from a Punjab Warehouse Corporation godown at Patti, 20 kilometres from the district headquarters.

Police on Saturday booked unidentified persons after the warehouse corporation’s district manager Paramjit Singh lodged a complaint in this regard.

He said some 20-25 armed men barged into the godown on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday and held three security guards captive before decamping with the wheat bags. After getting information, he along with other senior officers of the department reached the spot.

“After a physical verification of the godown, we found that around 1,000 bags (each weighing 50 kg) of wheat missing. The looted wheat is worth ₹10.35 lakh,” the manager said.

“The police had called the three guards for investigation on Saturday. They, however, could not establish the identity of the accused,” he said.

Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Dilbagh Singh, the investigating officer, said a case under Sections 457 (house trespass or house breaking), 380 (theft), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered in this regard at the Patti police station.