2 women held for sheltering ATM theft accused in Ludhiana
Ludhiana police say women helped miscreants escape after they stole over ₹17 lakh from a PNB ATM in a Jagraon village
The police on Tuesday arrested two women for allegedly sheltering miscreants who stole over ₹17 lakh from an automated-teller machine (ATM), officials aware of the development said.
Police said the arrests came six days after miscreants allegedly stole ₹17.14 lakh after cutting open the Punjab National Bank (PNB) ATM in Lamme Jattpura village in Jagraon.
Hathur police officials said the arrested accused also helped the miscreants in escaping after the theft.
The accused were identified as Harpreet Kaur alias Honey of Rajasthan’ s Ganga Nagar and Veerpal Kaur alias Jyoti of Moga. Police said they run a spa centre in the city.
Cops identify theft accused
The police have identified the four accused involved in the theft as Rajwinder Singh of Belluana village, Manpreet Singh of Moga, and Sandeep Singh and Harwinder Singh of Sarabha village. According to police, the registration plates of the one of the bikes used by the accused was captured by the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera installed near the ATM.
The police identified the accused after tracing the registration plate. The police scanned a trail of at least 150 CCTV cameras and traced the women.
During investigation, the police found that after stealing ₹17.14 lakh, the accused took shelter in the house of the women, who provided them food. After spending some time there, the accused moved forward. Hathur station-house officer (SHO) inspector Kuljinder Singh said that a hunt is to arrest of the accused who carried out the theft.
He said police found some vital clues about the accused and will arrest them soon.
On intervening night of September 17 and 18, the miscreants targeted an ATM and decamped with ₹17.14 lakh.
The miscreants sprayed black paint on the security cameras and cut open the ATM with the help of a gas cutter.
The miscreants fled leaving the oxygen cylinder used in the crime in the ATM kiosk.
Earlier, the police registered a first-information report (FIR) under sections 331 (4) and 305 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). On Tuesday, the police added sections 317 (5) and 61 (2) of the BNS to the FIR.