Ludhiana: ₹2 lakh looted in grocery store heist, staff nab 1, 5 at large

A spate of armed robberies has left residents of Ludhiana shaken, with two major incidents reported within 24 hours. In the latest case on Thursday night, six armed robbers stormed a wholesale grocery store on Jassian Road, looting ₹2 lakh. The robbery occurred around 8.50 pm when shop owner Joginder Singh, 69, and his son Surinder Singh, 36, were closing for the day.

Surinder said four assailants—two with pistols and another with a sharp-edged weapon—entered the store and demanded cash at gunpoint. “As we resisted, one of them fired a shot, but I narrowly escaped,” he said. Joginder suffered injuries when he was attacked with a blade as he tried to intervene.

One of the robbers was caught by a store employee and the others fled the scene. Police reached the spot and took the accused into custody. The CCTV footage has been handed over to authorities.

Additional deputy commissioner of police (City 1), Sameer Verma, said an FIR has been registered and multiple raids are underway to nab the remaining robbers.

This robbery followed a similar incident just a day earlier. On Wednesday night, four men looted ₹10,000 and two mobile phones at knifepoint from a couple running a departmental store in Kitchlu Nagar around 9 pm. Police arrested three of the accused within hours; one remains at large.

In a third incident on the same day, unidentified miscreants attacked a businessman’s employee during a robbery attempt, leaving him injured before fleeing.

The back-to-back crimes have sparked public outrage and political backlash. Former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and senior Congress leaders visited the victims in Kitchlu Nagar, accusing the government of neglecting public safety. “Police forces are being used to guard Aam Aadmi Party leaders from Delhi while Ludhiana residents are left at the mercy of criminals,” Channi alleged.