3 gangs busted; Rs 1 cr goods recovered

Dogra said the police struck when one gang led by Rahul, a resident of Fatehabad district in Haryana, was planning to strike an isolated place at Kheri Gujran village. The gang members, who were armed with guns and kirpans, were overpowered while Rahul managed to give a slip to the police. The police hopes to make more recoveries after the arrest of Rahul.

The arms recovered from the members of this gang included one double barrel gun, one Springfield rifle, three kirpans, one air pistol and about 60 keys of different locks.

Interestingly, the gang members were operating from an isolated room on the first floor of the Radiology Department in Government Rajindra Hospital.

There was no direct access to this room as it had no stairs etc and the gang members used to climb walls to reach there. All the stolen goods were stocked here.

Senior Superintendent of Police Parampal Singh Sidhu and Superintendent of Police (Detective) Kewal Kumar said that though the gang stayed in the room for almost one year, the hospital authorities were unaware of their presence.

The DGP said another gang of burglars had been busted with the arrest of five members who were responsible for seven cases of theft in the district and stolen goods worth about Rs 4.50 lakh were recovered from them.

Another gang of two members, one a resident of Bishan Nagar in Patiala and another of Samana Gate, Patiala, responsible for breaking open lockers and stealing cash and National Savings Certificates and Indira Vikas Patras has also been busted, Dogra added.

The police also claimed to have solved the murder of retired District Development and Panchayat Officer Gurcharan Singh in Punjabi Bagh area of the city in 1995, with the arrest of four persons.

The deceased after retirement from government service was working in the Samana branch of Punjab and Sind finance company. Personal enmity is said to be the cause of the crime and Parampal Singh, another employee of the finance company, was the main culprit.

The DGP announced that Constable Narinder Singh had been promoted as head constable for doing a commendable job in busting one of the gangs.

The SSP later said that two country-made pistols in rusted condition had been recovered from the Bhakra main line canal near Pasiana village.