Cops on toes after Dinanagar carjacking

PATHANKOT : The local police have launched a massive hunt after a carjacking incident was reported on the Pathankot-Amritsar national highway late Saturday night. SSP Vivek Sheel Soni said that one Satbir Singh, a resident of Taragarh near Dinanagar, along with his friend, was going to Pathankot from Dinanagar in his Swift Dzire (PB 06X 1018). When they reached near Kanwan village on the highway at around 11 pm, they stopped the car and came out of it to attend a phone call, he said.

In the meantime, he said, two persons, who were on foot and carrying sticks in their hands, came and entered the car and drove it away, the SSP said.

The police have taken the incident seriously as earlier such incidents were the handiwork of militants. However, in this case, the police have ruled out the possibility of carjackers being militants. As snatchers were on foot and had sticks in their hand, it indicates that they could be locals, the SSP said. The victim had told the police that one of the snatchers was a Sikh with a long flowing beard and the other was a clean shaven.

The SSP said the statement of the complainants is raising doubts as, it is learnt, that the place where the car was ‘snatched' is allegedly frequented by addicts and villagers keep a constant vigil there to scare away the addicts. “However, we are trying to get the footage of the CCTV cameras in nearby areas and hope to solve the case soon. We have intensified the hint to nab the accused,” he added.

In 2016, a car was snatched by militants from a Punjab Police superintendent of police in the Bamial sector.

Later, the same militants stormed the Pathankot air base killing seven security personnel before all of them were gunned down.