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Ponty Chadha’s servant arrested with booty
Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 10
The Jalandhar police today nabbed Ponty Chadha’s Nepali servant from Amritsar along with the theft money of about Rs 1 crore.

Ponty’s large “private network”, it is learnt, was also instrumental in cracking the case even as the Jalandhar police had deployed as many as 30 police parties to nab his servant Ram Kumar and his wife Geeta. Ram Kumar had allegedly served intoxicant mixed tea to gunman Surinder Singh, which had rendered him unconscious before fleeing with the theft money on May 8 from Urban Estate Phase II-based office of Ponty Chadha.

Mr Ishwar Singh, SSP, said staff members of the Indian Wine Traders Co, were also made part of the special police parties, which were despatched to Ambala, Rajpura, and Chandigarh. Apart from keeping a vigil on important public places like bus stands and railway stations, these police parties, equipped with photographs of Ram Kumar and Geeta, also quizzed tour operators to ascertain whether some person had hired a taxi or other vehicle on the night of the theft.

According to Mr Ishwar Singh a special police party headed by Mr Rakesh Kaushal, SP, arrested Ram Kumar from near the Jaillanwallah Bagh in Amritsar along with a box containing Rs 28 lakh in cash, whereas Rs 22 lakh were recovered from bushes near Sakattari Bagh in Amritsar on the basis of disclosures made by the couple. Interrogation of the accused also led to the recovery of over Rs 48 lakh from rented accommodation of Gobind, the brother of Ram Kumar, who was living in street No. 4 of the Maqboolpura locality of Amritsar. Reports also suggested that the “private network” of Ponty Chadha found out a friend of Ram Kumar from Ludhiana, from whom photographs of Ram Kumar and Geeta were procured.