Ludhiana 30-kg gold heist: 10 kg gold recovered from gangster’s arrested brother, say cops

Organized Crime Control Unit (OCCU) of the Punjab Police had arrested Amritpal Singh Bhullar of Ferozepur, brother of wanted gangster Jaipal Singh, who is also the alleged mastermind of the robbery, on Tuesday.




Punjab Police on Wednesday claimed that they have recovered 10-kg gold in connection with the 30-kg gold robbery case in Ludhiana from the fourth accused who was arrested Tuesday.

Organized Crime Control Unit (OCCU) of the Punjab Police had arrested Amritpal Singh Bhullar of Ferozepur, brother of wanted gangster Jaipal Singh, who is also the alleged mastermind of the robbery, on Tuesday.

IG (OCCU) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh said that of the five accused, who were actively involved in the robbery, three of them — Amritpal Singh, Pardeep Singh and gangster Gagandeep alias Gagan Judge — have been arrested. Besides, one Harpreet Singh of Ferozepur has also been arrested for allegedly harboring five accused at his residence, before and after the crime. Jaipal Singh and another accused, Gursewak Singh, are still at large.

The IG said that of the stolen 30-kg gold, police has recovered 10-kg gold from Amritpal Singh’s hideout in Mohali. Besides, a pistol and two rifles have also been recovered, he said. Amritpal is in six-day remand with OCCU in Chandigarh.

Earlier, the police had recovered Rs 33 lakh in cash and a pistol from gangster Gagandeep. Police had claimed that the cash was procured after selling the robbed gold.

On February 17, four persons barged inside India Infoline Finance Limited (IIFL) gold loan office branch on Gill road of Ludhiana and robbed 30-kg gold at gunpoint and keeping staff members as hostage. The fifth accused, who according to police was gangster Jaipal Singh, kept sitting in a car outside waiting for his accomplices. The FIR was registered at division number 6 police station of Ludhiana city under the sections 392 (robbery), 342 (wrongful restraint), 148 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly) of the IPC and sections of Arms Act.

1-kg gold loot case cracked: police

Meanwhile, the Ludhiana police Wednesday arrested one person in connection with the 1-kg gold loot case of March 4 and claimed to have recovered 203 gm gold from his possession.

Police said that the two accused are still absconding.

On March 4, Davinder Singh, owner of Gobind Jewellers on Gill road, had claimed that three masked men barged into his shop and looted 1-kg gold after threatening him with sharp-edged weapons. Police initially had said that case was “fishy” because the owner was “a depression patient and was changing his statements frequently.” Police had also claimed that 1-kg gold “wasn’t found missing from the shop’ and that “nothing was captured in CCTV cameras.”

However, on Wednesday, Ludhiana police commissioner Rakesh Agrawal, addressing a press conference, said that Sumit Sandhu of Lohara was arrested in connection with the case. The commissioner added that 203 grams of stolen gold, a country made 315 bore pistol and five cartridges have also been recovered from him.

The CP further said that that accused, during questioning, has confessed that he along with his two friends committed the robbery as they were facing financial issues. “The accused works as a delivery boy with an online food delivery company. He has confessed that they first did recce to identify the shops without any security guard. Later they also got to know that owner of Gobind Jewellers was mentally-challenged so they decided to target his shop,” said the CP.

They divided the stolen gold, he said adding that two others will be arrested soon.

An FIR was registered under the sections 392 (robbery), 379-B (snatching with hurt, wrongful restraint or fear of hurt) and 34 (conspiracy) of the IPC at division number 6 police station.

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