Rs 8L robbery turns out to be fake; 2 held, money recovered

The broad daylight robbery of Rs 8 lakh in which an employee of a rice trader was allegedly targeted in Khanna on Monday turned out to be fictitious. The employee of the firm fabricated the loot story in connivance with his friend with a motive to usurp the entire money. The drama unfolded when the police during a probe raised suspicion on the complainant and during his preliminary questioning, he confessed to having faked the loot story.

Interestingly, Harshpreet Singh, alias Jassu, an employee of rice trader, who was earlier made a complainant in the case on Monday after the incident, has now been added as the suspect and a case has been registered against him and his friend, identified as Gaurav Singh, a resident of Malaud.

SSP, Khanna, Ashwini Gotyal, while addressing a press conference stated that after the arrest of both suspects, the police also recovered looted cash, Rs 5 lakh from Harshpreet and Rs 3 lakh from Gaurav.

SSP Gotyal said Harshpreet was working as a clerk in the firm, Krishna Trader, at Mandi Gobindgarh. On Monday, Harshpreet was sent to HDFC bank in Bardhala for withdrawing cash. While returning to the firm, the suspect said he was intercepted by two autorickshaw-borne persons who attacked him and snatched his bag containing cash at Salaudi village. Initially, considering it a serious loot case, senior police officials reached the scene for investigation. Even CCTV cameras of the area were also scanned minutely to get any clue about the robbers.

During a probe, the police found a CCTV footage which showed that Harshpreet after withdrawing cash from the bank was heading towards Khanna on a motorcycle. He could be seen carrying a bag till Big Resort. Later, when cameras of a petrol pump at Salaudi were checked, Harshpreet was seen going on his motorcycle without any head injury but he was not carrying any bag, which actually brought him under scanner. The place where Harshpreet claimed he was targeted by two armed assailants was quite far away from the petrol pump, which further raised the suspicion on him, the SSP said.

Gotyal said the firm employee turned out be the prime suspect and his theory of loot was not supporting any logic. When he was strictly questioned, he admitted to having fabricating the loot incident to usurp money.

Police sources said even call records of the employee helped the police in establishing a connection between him and his friend Gaurav. Interestingly, the key suspect staged a drama of being unconscious when the police brought him to the Civil Hospital, Khanna, on Monday.