Cylinder delivery man loses ₹40K to snatchers

Ludhiana: Two bike-borne youths robbed an elderly LPG cylinder delivery man of approximately Rs 40,000 cash in a broad daylight on busy Rani Jhansi Road on Saturday afternoon. Of the total robbed cash, over Rs 21,000 was of the victim that he had borrowed and taken as an advance for the marriage of his daughter, scheduled for this month.
The victim has been identified as Ram Das, 60, who has been working for Shivalik Gas Agency for the past couple of years.
Ram Das, who supplied LPG cylinders in Ghumar Mandi area, said he had gone for the delivery of cylinders in the morning. Around 12.15pm, when he was at Rani Jhansi Road near Chaupati, two men on a motorcycle stopped him. They accused him of stealing their wallet. Even as Ram Das refuted the allegations, they refused to believe him.
“The accused wanted to frisk Ram Das. The delivery man took out all the money and documents he was carrying in his pockets and showed the same to the accused. Thereafter, the accused overpowered Ram Das, snatched the cash and escaped on their bike. Ram Das raised an alarm and onlookers gathered there but by that time the accused fled away. Ram Das thereafter called his co-worker and narrated the incident after which the co-workers informed us” said Sukhdeep Singh, a staffer of the gas agency.
“Ram Das is old and quite an innocent person. He was crying haplessly as on Friday he had got the salary. Moreover, he had taken some advance and had also borrowed some money for the marriage of his daughter this month. About Rs 19,000 was those collected by delivering cylinders and rest of the amount was his own money. We had to take Ram Das to the doctor as his blood pressure had dropped,” added Sukhdeep.
After the incident, the staffers of the gas agency also visited the spot, however the area where the man was robbed had no CCTVs installed nearby. Though, there were eyewitnesses who confirmed the incident.
Sub inspector Kulveer Singh, SHO Division number 8 police station said that the police will lodge an FIR after recording statements of the victim, who initially was not in condition to talk. It seems that the accused had seen cash with the elderly delivery man and robbed him considering him to be an easy target.