Leaving the city police red-faced,an increasing spate of robberies in the city has baffled residents. The number of robbery cases this year have recorded a more than 100 per cent increase as compared to the last year and have exposed the failure of the police in ensuring the safety of the common man. This year till the end of October,a total of 56 cases of robbery have been registered. Last year,till the end of October,the number of robbery cases registered in city was 23 thus depicting the huge jump in the cases this year. Crime is bound to increase with the rising population and due to the effect of television and its negative effects. As for robbery cases,we have been solving a number of cases and our work out percentage is close to 70 per cent. Best efforts are on to trace the culprits and the response time of the PCR has also improved, said UT SSP Naunihal Singh. Consider this: In the third of its kind gunpoint robbery this month,a group of four armed robbers snatched away the Swift Desire car belonging to the bank manager of SBI in Sector 17 on Friday evening. The incident took place on the busy Sector 8 road on the Madhya Marg at 7.30 pm. GC Kaushik was heading home to Panchkula when he was scar was snatched at gunpoint by the four robbers who fled in their Santro. Kaushik had parked his car near the roundabout to take a phone call when the four culprits came driving in a Hyundai Santro. Except for making sketches of the two accused who showed the gun to the bank manager today,the police have no other clue in the case. The number of the Santro car in which the four had come could not be noted down either. Armed robbers had stuck in Sector 35 two days before Diwali and fled with Rs 15 lakh cash foreign currency belonging to the franchisee owner of Western Union Money Transfer,another robbery attempt was reported a day after in Tanishq jewellers in Sector 17. The police is clueless in both the cases. A Sector 22 resident Hema,was robbed of Rs 10,000 at knife point by three unidentified youths on October 22.The youths had robbed her after entering her home. In this case too,the police has failed to make any lead. n The I20 car of Dr Vineet Singla of Sector 20 Panchkula was robbed on gunpoint from before a liquor vend near Sector 47 on August 5,2010. On September 22,2010,Deepak,a Ram Darbar resident reported to the police that he was on foot when three youngsters approached him and snatched away his Rs 2000 by keeping a knife on his neck. In this case too,no success was achieved. n Rs 10,000 snatched by throwing red chili powder In yet another case of snatching,three unidentified youths snatched Rs 10,000 from a sector 30 resident by throwing red chilly powder in his eyes on Saturday. The 45-year old sector resident,Ishwar Singh Punia,was robbed of his cash in the wee hours today. The police have registered a case of robbery under section 382 IPC in Industrial Area police station. Ishwar Singh Punia,owner of a Panchkula based primary school,was standing near GMCH-32 roundabout for catching a bus to Delhi when three youths came to him. One of them then pulled out a packet of red chili and threw it in his eyes,the other youth then snatched his purse which contained Rs 10,000 and his wrist watch. Punia was also assaulted with blunt weapons by the three. Punia was on way to attend the marriage of his niece in Delhi. He was taken to the hospital and discharged after getting first aid. The only major case in which the police was able to arrest the accused was the car snatching incidental Kalagram Light point on October 27. In this case too,it was the complainant Ravi Kumar himself who tracked the car on the basis of GPS system installed in the car and the police apprehended the accused after the accused after the victim informed them of the same.
