Spate in crime: Four murders, multiple snatchings in Jalandhar in three weeks

With four murders, frequent reports of snatching and murder attempts on two people being reported in the past three week, Jalandhar has become a hotbed for the criminals.

There is a spurt in criminal incidents in the city. A theft case is also being reported daily from the city area, falling under the jurisdiction of Jalandhar police commissionerate.

On Tuesday evening, a 50-year-old man had sustained bullet injuries after another man had opened fire at him, following a property dispute at Khodia on Tuesday. Victim Satish Chopra had intervened in a scuffle between a Sruchi Sharma and accused Ramesh Arora.

Four thefts cases were also reported from Mithapur, Butta village near Lamba Pind Chowk, Master Tara Singh Nagar and Chunpun Chowk near the Model Town locality on Tuesday. In all these cases, the robbers had targeted women and snatched gold chains and purses from them.

On Monday, a group of people, reportedly associated with the Lahoriya gang, had opened fire at a youth and thrashed him in the daytime near the city bus stand. Police had booked over 10 unidentified youth for attempt to murder and under the Arms Act on Monday, but are yet to arrest anyone.

Of the four murder cases, police are yet to arrest the accused in two cases.

The spot where bike-borne assailants had shot at Ajay Kumar, 30, of Dakoha near the Rama Mandi Chowk, is just a few metre away from a police checking point. Three to four police officials always remain at the Kapurthala Chowk, but the three bike-borne accused still managed to kill the youth and flee the spot on June 27. Police are yet to identify the assailants.

In another case, police had booked a gun shop owner Parminder Suri under Section 302 (punishment for murder of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after a Congress leader Balwant Singh Shergill, 36, had died of bullet injury at Jyoti Chowk on July 24. Police are yet to arrest Suri.

On July 13, Sukhjit Singh, 26, of Ramki Jandiala village was murdered by unidentified miscreants in Jandiala Manjaki village by two of his friends. Police had arrested both the accused, who are from Kangra in HP.

In another case, a 26-year-old Jasveer Singh of Raipur was murdered by a man over minor arguments, and accused was held.

Snatching incidents are also taking place frequently and most cases are of snatching incidents taking place in the daytime.

A few days back, two masked men had looted 12 tola gold jewellery after the accused had held a woman hostage in her house. On June 15, a youth had looted 50gm gold from Ladowali road, a few metres from the police commissionerate headquarters. In another case, bike-borne youths had snatched a purse from near Jyoti Chowk.

Lovedeep Singh, a residents of Shaheed Babu Labh Singh Nagar, said that police should increase patrolling and install more closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) in these areas, to keep a tab on the criminals. “Most of the CCTV cameras installed in the city last year are now non-functional,” he said.

Deputy commissioner of police (DCP investigations) Gurmeet Singh could not be reached for a comment despite repeated attempts. But Jalandhar police commissioner Praveen Kumar Sinha said that most cases have been solved.

“Rise in crime cannot be compared to rise in FIR figures as we are now registering all cases, including small snatching incidents. Of these, 40 to 50% cases are of snatching cases and have already been solved by the police,” the commissioner of police said. He said they will increase patrolling in the city.