District witnesses over 30 looting, snatchings incidents in fortnight

Tribune News Service

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, December 25

The fog this year has not come alone in the district. With it, have come a bevy of thieves, who loot commuters on deserted roads in the wee hours and during the night.

In the past fortnight, over 30 looting incidents have been reported in the district. These do not include rampant shooting incidents or unreported robberies. Not known to discriminate, the bizarre list of items looted by thieves in Jalandhar includes Red Bull cartons, currency notes of Rs 500 denomination, batteries of parked vehicle, CCTV cameras and even rats.

Recent incidents

• Three bike-borne persons snatch Rs 50,000 and six mobile phones on gun point from trader and other people travelling in an e-rickshaw.
• Cash and mobile phone looted by some men from a cook.
• Thieves snatched a bag from man on Jalandhar-Kapurthala Road.
• A couple looted of Rs 15,000 on Jalandhar-Kapurthala Road.
• 19 batteries of parked vehicles near Ravidass Chowk stolen.
• Bike-borne persons snatch Rs 9,000 and gold chain from an elderly man.
• Three bike-borne persons stop an auto-rickshaw at Deol Nagar and loot cash from passengers.
• Two bike-borne men loot belongings of a youth after injuring him at Nagar Crossing.
• An auto driver looted Rs 60,000 from a patient.

On December 19, three men looted two friends, who had gone to release recently caught rats from their homes in Kashi Nagar, in the open. The thieves looted cash and mobile phones from the duo and also snatched their scooter keys. The thieves even took away rats kept in a polythene bag.

In most incidents, masked bike-borne persons (often three in number) rob people in the wee hours, on way to temples, on foot and even when they are buying vegetables from vendors near shady Maqsoodan Sabzi Mandi route. Patients with urine bags in their hands, daily wagers with little money, dhaba workers, interview goers, elderly, vegetable buyers, passengers on an e-rickshaws and even policemen are not being spared by bike-borne miscreants. In a recent, an ASI’s house was burgled. The distinction between the rich and the poor gets blurred in brazen robberies.

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