Police foil gang’s plan to rob shops in Mohali, Ludhiana

Babbar Khalsa International activist wanted for terror activities since 2010 among the accused; gang was planning to strike at grocery and jewellery shops for quick money, say police

Police have busted a gang of robbers who were planning to strike at a grocery store in Ludhiana and a jewellery shop in Mohali, with the arrest of five gang members.

Police have busted a gang of robbers who were planning to strike at a grocery store in Ludhiana and a jewellery shop in Mohali. (HT Photo)

Among the accused is a Babbar Khalsa International activist, Kulwant Singh, alias Guddu, who was wanted for terror activities by Rajpura police since 2010 and Amritsar police since 2020. Hailing from Mankheri village, Morinda, he is in his 40s.

Apart from Kulwant, the other accused are Narinder Singh, alias Nandi, who also hails from Mankheri village and is in his 30s; Amarinder Singh, alias Captain, of Sector 37, Chandigarh; Lovish Kumar, alias Lovi, of Preet Nagar, Ludhiana; and Parampratap Singh of Abohar, all in 20s.

Their accomplice, Yadwinder Singh, hailing from Karnal, managed to escape.

Sharing details, Mohali senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sandeep Garg said two illegal country made pistols and eight live cartridges were recovered from the gang members. They had procured the weapons from Madhya Pradesh (MP).

“During interrogation, they admitted that they were planning to execute robberies at a jewellery shop in Mohali and grocery store in Ludhiana. They had conspired the robberies as two members of the gang needed money immediately to travel abroad,” said Garg.

He said Narinder was the first to be arrested from Phase 6 area with an illegal weapon. During questioning, he confessed that he had procured the weapon from Kulwant, who was subsequently arrested. This was followed by Amarinder’s arrest from Chandigarh.

Through further interrogation, it came to light that Lovish, Parampratap and Yadwinder were also involved with them. While Parampratap was arrested from Chandigarh, Lovish was nabbed from Zirakpur and Yadwinder Singh managed to flee.

On being grilled, Amarinder confessed to have bought the weapons in 2021 for ₹1.1 lakh from an illegal arms supplier in MP.

While he had given one pistol and seven cartridges to Kulwant, Yadwinder got the second pistol and a cartridge.

SSP Garg said Lovish was a habitual offender and facing nine snatching cases in Ludhiana. “They were operating like an organised gang and compartmentalised their roles. While Amarinder procured weapons, Lovish was tasked with carrying out recces of the target. Similarly, other accused were assigned other tasks,” said Garg.

The SSP said it had also come to light that the gang wanted to settle some personal scores. “Nindi had a fight with some individual nearly three years ago and wanted to avenge the thrashing. He was previously booked in an Arms Act case,” said Garg.

All accused were booked under Section 25 of the Arms Act at the phase 1 police station. They were produced before a court and sent to police remand.