Thieves target 6 shops in Putlighar area

Tribune News Service
Amritsar, February 1

Tall claims of the police of night patrolling and nakas fell flat with thieves targeting around six shops and decamping with cash from the cash boxes of these shops by breaking open the shutters in the famous Putlighar market in the wee hours here on Monday. The police have started investigation and registered a case in this regard.

A CCTV footage of the spot revealed that the accused were five or six in number who were travelling in a car. They threatened the security guard to kill him in case he tried to alert shopkeepers.

Ashish Chug, owner of Khoobsurat Garment Shop, revealed that he got a call from another shopkeeper at around 3am and they reached the shop within a few minutes. He found the shutters half open while around Rs 1 lakh in cash was missing from the cash box.

Another shopkeeper Ashwani, owner of Sham Sundar and Sons (a cloth and garment shop), revealed that there was around Rs 90,000 in cash in the box. Similarly, the thieves’ also targeted Novelty Garment Shop, owned by Amit Chug, and RK Prints located in the main bazaar of Putlighar. They also decamped with cash and other valuables from Sehgal Medical Store owned by BJP leader Deepak Sehgal and the adjoining Saini Medical Store.

Deepak Sehgal said unscrupulous elements had no fear of the law as they targeted the shops with impunity. Earlier too, similar instances were reported from different parts of the city, besides Putlighar area.

RK Dogra, owner of Dogra garment store, said there was a complete failure of the law and order situation. He said around two months ago, attempts were made to steal goods from his shop too. After this, he made adequate arrangements, besides installing CCTV cameras in and outside the shop. “The unknown thieves first targeted my shop and broke the CCTV camera. But they failed to break open the shutters of my shop,” Dogra said.

The cantonment police said investigation was under progress after the registration of an FIR.