Three 'customers' carjack Ola driver at gunpoint

LUDHIANA: Three unidentified assailants impersonating as customers carjacked an Ola cab driver at gunpoint near Silver Oak Resort adjoining Daad village around 12.45am on Monday. The accused were waiting in the area that lacks CCTV cameras and streetlights. They first thrashed the driver - Bachitar Singh - with baseball bats and then brandished a gun and carjacked him.

After the trio sped away, Bachitar called up his colleagues and the police.

Bachitar, 26, a resident of Pakhowal village, said he owned a Maruti Suzuki Swift car and had been driving it for Ola for the past two-and-a-half years. "I was near Phullanwal Chowk, Pakhowal Road, when the accused made a booking. As per the location, I reached near Silver Oak Resort and found a man of about 40. He said two more persons were coming and we have to wait for them. I unlocked the car and the man sat at the backseat. Two to three minutes later, two men opened the door and dragged me out of it. They attacked me with baseball bats. When I resisted and fought back, one of the accused brandished a gun and asked me to move aside. Seeing the weapon, I yielded and they drove away with my car," he added.

Bachitar said his phone used for bookings was inside the car and his personal cellphone was in his pocket.

Assistant commissioner of police (ACP-South) Ramandeep Singh Bhullar said, "The accused switched off Bachitar's cellphone after leaving the spot. The police are now trying to trace the number from which the accused made the booking."

Police said it was suspected that the accused escaped towards Moga. The city police have apprised their counterparts in other districts of the incident. Sadar police have registered a case.