Gang involved in looting foodgrain godowns in Amritsar busted; 4 held

The Amritsar-rural police have busted a gang involved in looting government food grain at gunpoint from various godowns of Amritsar, with the arrest of four of its members.

The accused have been identified as Gurmeet Singh alias Bhita, Yudhbir Singh alias Yodha and Lovejit Singh alias Joban of Bhagwanpura village, and Baljit Singh alias Billa of Mehmoodpura village of Bhikhiwind sub-division in Tarn Taran district.

With the arrest of the accused, the police have also recovered two trucks and a .32 bore pistol. The trucks were being used to loot food-grain from godowns. The accused had committed three loots in the period of around one month in which around 2000 bags of wheat valuing around ₹36 lakh was carried away.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP), rural, Satinder Singh said their teams were working to arrest the accused, who were wanted in the three recent loot cases.

He said, “On the basis of a tip-off, the accused were nabbed from the Majitha area and two trucks were recovered from them. A pistol of .32 bore has also been recovered, which was snatched by the accused from a security guard of a Jandiala-based godown.” A police official, privy to the investigation, said, “On June 13, the accused had looted around 500 bags of wheat from a Jandiala-based godown. The amount of the looted wheat is pegged at around ₹ 9 lakh.”

He said, “The second dacoity was committed by the accused on June 29 in the Verka area where around 500 bags of wheat was looted. Similarly, the third loot was committed a few days ago, in a Majitha-based godown where around 1000 bags were stolen in two trucks.”

The official said their preliminary investigation has found that the accused had sold the looted wheat to a Tarn Taran-based commission agent. “Our teams will conduct raid to nab the commission agent. Our teams are also working to find if more food grain was stolen from more godowns by the accused,” he said. He further said one of the arrested accused has already been facing four criminal cases, including of a dacoity. He said they have identified one more member of the gang, who is absconding and a history-sheeter. All the accused have been booked under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under various Sections of the Arms Act at Majitha police station.