In a daring act, a mobile shop owner in Jalandhar’s Bhargo Camp chased two gangsters on his Activa scooter minutes after they had fired gunshots at his shop and managed to catch hold of one of them.
Ankush, owner of Chawla Mobile Point, said he had been getting extortion calls for the past two years and his life and that of his family had become a hell. He said he had received the last call on May 19 with a demand of Rs 50 lakh ransom. He said he had been approaching the police with every detail, but nothing was being done.
“I had even sought security for myself, but to no avail. So eventually, when two bike-borne gangsters came to my doorstep and fired gunshots at my showroom around 2:30 pm, I chose not to take any cover or go into hiding. I was so frustrated that I chose to confront them. I immediately took out my scooter and chased them. I held one of them by his hair. I even managed to take hold of his bike. Somehow, I missed nabbing the second youth. With the help of the shopkeepers, I brought the accused and his bike to my showroom,” he said.
Outside the showroom, the shopkeepers started to beat one of the gangsters and handcuffed him with chains.
They then interrogated him about his accomplice and even quizzed him as to whose order he had been operating. He was then kept captive inside the showroom.
When the police teams arrived, the shopkeepers initially refused to hand over the accused to them. The cops, including SHO Rajinder Singh and DSP Aatish Bhatia, had to hear a mouthful from the angry public, after which they forced open the shutter and went inside.
BJP leader Amit Taneja and Congress ex-MLA Rajinder Beri, and councillor Paramjot Singh Sherry Chadha also reached the spot. All leaders sided with the shopkeepers and flayed the police for inaction over two years, which led the shop owner to resort to the daring act.
CIA Staff Inspector Surinder Kumar finally came in and took hold of the accused. ACP Bhatia said the phone and weapon of the gangster had also been recovered by the teams. He appreciated the courage shown by the shopkeeper in nabbing the accused.
