₹1.5cr looted at gunpoint from Kar Sewa centre in Tarn Taran
4 men hold cashier, gatekeeper captive; cops accuse dera of negligence
“The robbers knocked the door of my room where I was sleeping. When I slightly opened the door, they told me that they were calling my number. In the meantime, they forced their way inside the room,” said Mohinder.
“They locked the room from inside. One of them pointed a pistol on my head while another gagged me with a handkerchief. They repeatedly hit me and then dumped me in the bathroom after tying my arms and legs. Then they took along the money,” he added.
Gatekeeper Bakshish Singh said when he realised the four did not emerge out of the cashier’s room for some time, he knocked the door. “They opened the door and dragged me inside and held me captive there,” he said.
SP (investigation) Jagjit Singh Walia along with a team reached the spot and started investigation. “The incident took place due to the dera’s negligence. We are trying to ascertain the total looted cash. We have collected the CCTV footage and the accused will be arrested very soon.”
The robbers didn’t steal the cash in the denomination of ₹50, ₹10 besides coins.
Mohinder was admitted to hospital for treatment.
A case under Section 457 (lurking house trespass or housebreaking by night to commit offence punishable with imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at the city police station.
Dera Baba Jeevan Singh is run by Tarn Taran Kar Sewa whose activists were accused of demolishing a portion of the 200year old ‘darshani deori’, the main entrance leading to the sanctum sanctorum of the historic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Tarn Taran in March last year.