Mohali, August 13: A principal and two teachers of a nursing college were waylaid and robbed of cash and mobile phones at gunpoint near Mohali on Wednesday afternoon.
The incident took place around 3 pm when Kiran Batra, principal of the Silver Oaks Nursing College in Abhipur village, Mohali, was heading back home in Sector 48, Chandigarh.
Two college teachers, Inder Dhillon and Manju Chandel, were accompanying Batra in her Mahindra Scorpio driven by driver Harjeet Singh.
When they reached near Dulma Khadri village, around 10 km from Mullanpur Garibdass, a white Tata Indica car, which was ahead of them, stopped. The car had a Chandigarh registration number, the police said.
“As I applied brakes, a turbaned man and three clean-shaven men stepped out from the Indica car, and the turbaned man placed a pistol on my temple,” Harjeet, who lives in Jhungian village near Kharar, said.
The assailants allegedly threatened the three women to keep quiet and snatched Batra’s laptop, Harjeet and Batra’s mobile phones and Rs 4,500 from Batra’s purse, the police said.
But before they could target the teachers, they panicked seeing a vehicle coming down the road. Sensing trouble, they started rushing towards their car. In the melee, the teachers snatched back Batra’s laptop from them, officiating SHO of Mullanpur Garibdass police station Harbhajan Singh told.
Harjeet reportedly told the police that the leader of the group was aged around 40, and his accomplices were between 30 and 32 years. They were speaking in a local Punjabi dialect.
The police have lodged a case under Sections 382 (causing death, hurt or restraint in order to commit theft) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and offences punishable under Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act, against the robbers.
Later, police investigation revealed that the Chandigarh registration number of the Tata Indica car was fake. Official records revealed that the number was not even issued yet, SHO Harbhajan Singh said.
–Agencies