Auto driver, aide rob trader, push him into canal

Ludhiana: An auto gang robbed a Delhi trader and pushed him into Sidhwan Canal near Harnapura, Sahnewal, on Saturday night.
Victim Irfan, 39, who hails from Jammu, runs a machine tools business in the Capital.
Irfan said, “I had come to Ludhiana to purchase machine parts. I hired an auto from Sherpur to reach Gill Road. The auto driver was accompanied by another man. By the time we reached the shop, it had closed. I asked the auto driver to take me near Clock Tower so that I could check in a hotel to spend a night there. However, the auto driver offered to take me to another hotel in Sahnewal, where I could get a room at a cheaper price.”
Irfan agreed and the auto driver took him towards Southern Bypass. “Near an ashram in Sahnewal around 10pm, the area was isolated. There, the accomplice of the auto driver attacked me on neck with a blunt weapon and robbed me of Rs 67,700, my cellphone and other stuff. They then pulled me out and pushed me into Sidhwan Canal. I swam out to safety,” he added.
Sahnewal police station ASI Karnail Singh said a case has been registered against the two unidentified accused under sections 379-B (snatching) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC. “We are scanning the footage of the CCTVs installed at locations where the victim had gone with the auto gang,” he added.