Police recover stolen ornaments worth Rs 60 lakh, arrest 2 accused

Claiming that it was one of the biggest recoveries of the stolen ornaments in the state, SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the accused had been identified as Narinder Kumar (40), a resident of Bubka village in Yamunanagar district in Haryana, and Sandeep Kumar (35), who also belonged to Haryana. Both the accused were habitual offenders and were involved in many theft cases.

The SSP said that Narinder, who studied up to senior secondary level, was recruited in the elite Para Special Forces of the Indian Army in 1994 and trained as a commando but later he became a notorious criminal and carried out an armed robbery of Rs 10.5 lakh in a branch of State Bank of India at Patreri village in Ambala district. Following the robbery, Narinder was dismissed from service.

Sandeep was a habitual criminal and booked in various theft cases. He was booked in 19 different cases of theft in Panchkula, Dehradun and Bikaner. The accused was also convicted in some cases and went to jail but later he formed a gang with Narinder.

The SSP said that with the arrest of the two accused, the police solved 27 cases of theft registered at different police stations of the district. The cases were registered in Mohali, Derabassi and Kharar. The accused were arrested from their rented accommodations in Zirakpur.

The SSP said that a theft case was registered against some unknown persons at the Kharar (city) police station. Following a tip-off that the accused were staying in Zirakpur, a trap was laid and they were arrested. The accused said that they had been active in the district for a year and a half.

Revealing the modus operandi of the accused, the SSP said that both Narinder and Sandeep met in a jail and decided to carry out thefts together. Both the accused
were first active in Haryana but then they shifted their base to Mohali. The empty houses were their targets. They first used to do recce of different areas to find out the empty houses and then carry out the thefts during daytime.

“Usually, thieves strike at night but these two used to strike during the day between 11 am and 1 pm in empty houses. They used screw drivers and rods to break the locks. We have recovered gloves, three screw drivers, rods and sharp-edged weapons from the accused,” added the SSP.