Kitchlu Nagar robbery: Accused changed vehicles to throw cops off trail; 3 arrested

Three persons, who had allegedly robbed a trader outside his house in Kitchlu Nagar last week, landed in the police net on Friday, despite working out an elaborate plan to dodge the cops, which included changing the mode of commute multiple times and burning electronic items snatched from the victim. Their fourth accomplice continues to be on the run.

Those arrested have been identified as Mandeep Singh alias Deepa, 36, of Baba Deep Singh Nagar, Dhuri Lines, Harwinder Singh alias Gopi, 24, of Jujhar Nagar of New Shimlapuri, and Sunny Kumar alias Laddu, 25, of Guru Gobind Singh Nagar, Barota Road, Shimlapuri.

Their aide Davinder Singh alias Bunty, 27, of Guru Gobind Singh Nagar, Shimlapuri, is yet to be arrested.

CCTV trail helped nab accused

Police commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu said the accused had come to the city on two bikes, parked it at some place, then traveled in a Maruti Suzuki Ritz car for some distance before taking a Mahindra Scorpio to reach Kitchlu Nagar, where the victim, Saurav Aggarwal, resided.

After robbing the trader, they followed the same trail back. They parked the SUV at some place and fled in the Ritz. Police were able to trace the accused through by following the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera trail.

The accused had also burnt the laptop and mobile phone robbed from the trader so as to avoid being tracked.

Police have recovered the two cars used in the crime, besides the half-burnt laptop and mobile phone from their possession. Cops have also recovered ₹10,000 cash, while the rest of the amount was allegedly spent by the accused.

The police commissioner added that there is suspicion that someone may have tipped-off the accused about the fact that Aggarwal used to carry a huge amount of cash, which is why they targeted him.

He further added that two of the accused are history-sheeters.

“Mandeep Singh alias Deepa is facing trial in at least 15 cases registered in Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar (Mohali), Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshehr), Moga, Khanna and Ludhiana while Sunny Kumar alias Bunty has three cases against him,” Sidhu added.

Box: Victim quoted inflated amount?

The case continues to get murkier, with the police stating that the victim may have given police the wrong information on how much money was robbed from him.

Police commissioner Sidhu said that on the day of the robbery, i.e October 21, Aggarwal had claimed that he had lost ₹7 lakh to the miscreants. Later, while lodging the FIR, he claimed that ₹5 lakh was robbed. Some time later, he again changed his statement and said that ₹4 lakh had been robbed.

The police commissioner said that the accused, during questioning, told the police that they had robbed ₹2 lakh from the trader.

Sidhu further said the trader may have either lied to claim extra from the insurance company, or to portray to his friends and relatives that he has a lot of money.

He added they are probing the matter and if the trader is found to have given false information to the police, appropriate action will be taken against him.