Cops nab prime suspect in HDFC bank dacoity case

Amritsar rural police today claimed to have cracked a bank dacoity case that took place at the HDFC branch in Manjhwind village falling under Kathunangal police station here on September 18 by arresting the prime suspect after a brief exchange of fire in Goindwal Sahib area of Tarn Taran on Friday.

Identified as Kashmir Singh alias Sheeru of Hansawala village in Goindwal Sahib, he was injured following retaliatory firing by the raiding police team. According to police, he was wanted in several cases of bank dacoity in Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Sultanpur Lodhi areas. He was currently admitted to the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital for treatment.

“After over three weeks of hard work, the Kathnunangal police and CIA staff got a tip-off about his presence in the Mand area of Tarn Taran. The police teams immediately swung into action and rushed to the area where they found the location of Kashmir Singh alias Sheeru. On seeing the police, he fired at the team headed by SHO Khushbu Sharma and CIA in-charge Manmeet Singh. The cops had a narrow escape in the firing. When the police retaliated, he suffered a bullet injury in the right knee,” said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Charanjit Singh while adding that the police seized the weapon from his possession.

Besides Kashmir Singh, the police also held Paramjit Singh alias Sonu of Hansawala village for providing shelter to him. The latter also had a bank dacoity case against him in Sultanpur Lodhi. The police had earlier arrested Satnam Singh for sheltering him. His associates were identified as Baldev Singh of Nanaksar Mohall and Karanbir Singh Kannu. Extensive raids were on to nab them, said the SSP.

Kashmir Singh had six cases of a similar nature against him and was declared a proclaimed offender (PO) by the court in some of them.

According to police, the suspects were identified after 10 days of investigation and scanning of footage from around 220 CCTV cameras in Amritsar and Tarn Taran belt before zeroing in on five suspects.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused had given Rs 4 lakh to an immigration agent to fly out of the country on fake identity. Part of the sum was transferred to a bank account which was frozen by the police.

Investigations revealed that the gang was also involved in extorting money from traders by posing as gangsters.