Tribune News Service

Kapurthala, July 10

The Kapurthala police on Saturday busted a snatchers’ gang by arresting four persons and recovered snatched gold, two stolen bikes and one Activa scooty used in committing crimes from them.

The accused have been identified as siblings Navish, alias Nony, and Luvdeep Singh, both residents of Kusht Ashram area; Harish, alias Kala, of Mohalla Malkana in Kapurthala city; and goldsmith Iqbal Singh, alias Laddi, of Sidhwan Dona village in Kapurthala.

With their arrest, the police have solved eight cases of gold and vehicle thefts.

In a press note, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh said the Safe City Project was launched a few days ago and under it, new PCR patrol motorcycle teams were deployed in the city area to strictly monitor activities of anti-social elements.

The SSP said for the last few days, complaints of gold snatching and vehicle thefts were received from city areas.

He said taking in view these complaints, a PCR patrol party reached the spot and analysed CCTV footage from nearby establishments.

Khakh said under the supervision of SP(D) Vishaljit Singh and DSP(D) Sarabjit Singh, police teams of CIA, Kapurthala, traced the criminals and nabbed brothers Navish, Luvdeep Singh along with Harish after recovering the Activa scooty and stolen bikes when they tried to escape after seeing the police party.

The SSP said during preliminary interrogation, the accused revealed eight crimes committed by them. These included gold snatching from women at Kala Sangha Road near Rajpur, the petrol station near the Wadala Railway Flyover, the DC Chowk to Peer Choudhary Road near Army Gate, Kanjali Road petrol station, Bhawanipur Road near the canal.

The accused also disclosed that they had stolen a Pulsar (150cc) motorcycle from Chuhar Wali Octroi City Hall, and a few days ago they drove away with a new bike on the pretext of buying it from a dealer near Jyoti Chowk, Jalandhar.

The SSP said during investigation, the accused revealed that they were addicted to drugs and would sell all the looted gold to a goldsmith, Laddi, in the RCF area. The police team also arrested the goldsmith for his involvement and buying the snatched gold. The SSP said all the accused had been arrested and a case under Sections 411 and 34 of the IPC registered.

He said the accused would be produced in local courts and taken on remand for further interrogation.