Auto turns robbery trap: Jalandhar gang tries to tie woman with dupatta; brave victim hangs out to raise alarm

LUDHIANA: An auto gang tried to rob the woman passenger near Jalandhar Bypass. While one of the accused was driving the auto, two of his aides who were sitting in the auto posing as passengers, tried to rob the woman. However, the woman hung outside the auto and screamed for help.

Meanwhile, the commuters noticed the woman and stopped the auto by intervening its way following which the woman was rescued. Two of the accused were apprehended and handed over to the police.

The commuters at the spot also vandalised the auto of the accused and also thrashed them.

The apprehended accused have been identified as Mohit alias Manu and Dimple Makkar alias Bunty, and their absconding accomplices is Shubham.

The victim woman Meena said that she boarded the auto from Jalandhar Bypass Chowk for Phillaur. One of the accused was driving while his two aides were sitting on the back seat posing as passengers. One of the men who posed as a passenger asked the driver to stop the auto to answer nature’s call. The man moved near her to show that he was going out of the auto, however he overpowered her. The accused and his aide, tried to tie her hands with dupatta in a bid to snatch her phone, but she restrained.

The woman added that she screamed for help and to get noticed by the commuters, she hung from the auto. Some of the cars intercepted the auto in her rescue and nabbed two of the accused.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Davinder Chaudhary said that an FIR under sections 304 (snatching as a form of theft involving the sudden, quick, or forceful seizure of movable property from a person's possession), 3 (5) (acts committed by multiple individuals with a common intention to commit a crime) and 317 (2) (receiving or possessing stolen property) of BNS has been lodged against the accused at Salem Tabri Police station.

He added that the accused Mohit alias Manu is already facing trial in three criminal cases.