Shatrughan foils robbery attempt, snatches pistol from assailant

Ludhiana: A grocery store owner, named Shatrughan Paswan (43), foiled a robbery bid when some assailants barged into his shop and tried to rob him at gunpoint on Saurday evening.
The owner not only fought the assailants, but snatched their pistol and a toy pistol.
On a complaint by Paswan, a resident of Baba Mukand Singh Nagar, Division VI police have lodged an FIR against three unidentified accused. Paswan stated that he ran a grocery store inside his house. On Saturday evening, when he was present at his shop, a bike stopped outside.
Three men were on the bike, of which one alighted and came inside. “I thought he was a customer, but the man took out a pistol as soon as he entered. He threatened me. But before the accused could do anything further, I held his pistol and tried to snatch it,” said Paswan.
Paswan then raised the alarm and people from the market started gathering outside. “The accused also called his accomplices, but they also did not come and kept on sitting on the bike. I managed to snatch his weapon after which the accused took out another weapon and hit me on the head with its handle, but his weapon fell down. The accused then escaped from the spot, while his two accomplices were on the bike,” added Paswan.
Thereafter, Paswan called the police control room. ASI Lakhveer Singh from Division VI police station stated that the accused man who entered the shop was unmasked, but the victim did not recognise him. “The preliminary probe suggests that the accused wanted to rob the man by threatening him with the weapon. The weapons recovered from the spot include a country-made pistol and a toy pistol,” he said.