Nabha bank loot: SHO suspended, 3 cases cracked

as Nabha SHO Sukhraj Singh has been suspended for laxity, the district police’s cracking of Wednesday’s ₹50 lakh robbery in Nabha, 28-km from here, has also led it to solve three other such cases in Sangrur and Patiala, committed by the same gang, where the looted amount totalled ₹51 lakh.

Two of these crimes took place in Sangrur this year. A Nabha robbery of 2014 has also been solved. The SHO will also face a departmental inquiry.

Jagdev Singh alias Taari, 35, and Amanjit Singh alias Guri, 37, of Sangrur, were arrested within four hours of shooting dead guard, Prem Chand, and looting ₹50 lakh in the New Grain Market area of Nabha, on Wednesday.

Patiala SSP Mandeep Singh Sidhu said, “During interrogation, the accused confessed to their involvement in past cases. The modus operandi in each loot was the same; carrying out a recce and pre-deciding their escape route. Their first action was to fire at the guard. In the previous robberies, they left no evidence and were not caught on CCTV.”

“The accused Amanjit has told us that that after looting ₹37 lakh from Nabha in 2014, they bought four second-hand oil tankers and started earning ₹2.5 lakh per month,” the SSP added.

He added that their third accomplice, Hardev Singh of Gaggarwal village of Sanrgur district, was also involved in the 2014 Nabha loot, but died due to kidney ailment in 2015.

Nabha DSP Davinder Attri said police have found six accounts in the name of both the accused in Sangrur banks. “In these accounts, ₹24 lakh is deposited. We have written to the banks to freeze these,” the DSP added. Police have confiscated a .32 licenced pistol, two .12 double barrel guns and other vehicles used in robberies.

On February 1, 2014, the accused killed a guard Randhir Singh and decamped with ₹37 lakh from the State Bank of India’s ATM kiosk at Nabha.

On May 14 this year, the miscreants (Jagdev Singh alias Taari, 35, and Amanjit Singh alias Guri, 37, of Sangrur), with their faces covered, had fired at a guard outside an ATM in Sangrur and looted ₹9 lakh.

On July 13, the accused looted ₹5 lakh from a cash van after shooting at its guard near Bhai Gurdas College in Sangrur.