Ludhiana: Robbery attempt at gold loan office foiled, 1 killed in firing

In retaliatory fire by the company’s security guard, one of the robbers died and three others managed to flee even as locals tried to nab them.

Police said that the security guard took on the robbers and fired shots that killed one of them and foiled the robbery bid at Muthoot Fincorp’s Sunder Nagar branch after the remaining assailants fled away.

Ludhiana Commissioner of Police (CP) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that four robbers barged into the branch of Muthoot Fincorp around 10 am. The robbers engaged manager Sunny Sharma in a loan conversation and tried to enter the strongroom forcibly but Sharma resisted, following which one of the accused opened fire at him and left him injured.

He added that alert guard Surjeet Kumar, 47, of Kahna Dhesian, Jalandhar, listened to sounds of gunfire and put the shutter down and took a position outside with his weapon. When the robbers opened the shutter and came outside, Kumar fired a shot that killed one of the robbers. The remaining three assailants managed to flee away by scaling walls of the adjoining buildings.

Bhullar said that a PCR team on being informed, reached the spot within minutes and took injured Sunny to the hospital where his condition was stable and out of danger.

The CP said that the cops have recovered one pistol from dead robber besides one more pistol, mobiles and bikes from nearby street thrown by them during a chase by cops. Three special teams have been formed to nab the absconding assailants.

He said that images of the accused have also been shared with police forces of adjoining districts and GRP.

Appreciating the bravery shown by Surjeet Kumar, he said that the Punjab Police would soon award him for his exceptional courageous act that foiled robbery.

The CP said that recently teams of Ludhiana Commissionerate police had interacted with the security guards of finance companies and guided them on how to keep vigil on suspects.

Further, he said that we have taken cognisance of negligence on the part of Muthoot company, including its alarm system was found non-functional and other issues. He said that suitable action would also be taken in this regard.

An FIR under sections 393, 394, 307 of the IPC and Section 25 of the Arms Act was registered against four robbers at Daresi police station. The dead robber was identified as Amar Partap Singh of Rasalpur village, Nalanda, Bihar.