Ludhiana: Three alleged thieves led by a dismissed cop tore apart a luxury rental car’s tracking electronics, but missed the one beacon that doomed them. Illegal guns and a hospital escape were next episodes of the drama.Police intercepted and arrested the trio — Vikas, a sacked constable from Ferozepur, Parvinder Singh of the same place, and Vipan, of Kapurthala — near the city’s main bus station on Wednesday and claimed to have seized two illegal firearms — a .32-bore pistol and a .32-bore revolver — besides 12 rounds of ammunition.Assistant commissioner of police Sarabjit Singh Cheema said the luxury SUV belonged to a vehicle rental company. A Chandigarh resident, Gurdev Singh, had initially rented the vehicle for ₹6,000 a day.The three men then subleased the vehicle from him after providing a ₹5.5 lakh security deposit, planning allegedly to steal the vehicle. The plot flopped because of the vehicle’s security systems. While the trio managed to locate and remove several hidden GPS trackers, they missed one.Rental company executives noticed a discrepancy between the vehicle’s actual location and the coordinates Gurdev Singh had reported, prompting them to contact the police.Following the arrests, the case took an embarrassing turn for local police when Vipan managed to ditch his guards during a mandatory medical examination at Ludhiana’s civil hospital.The station house officer (SHO) concerned, inspector Hamraj Singh, confirmed the escape and said a fresh manhunt and separate criminal case were in progress. The three suspects face are charged under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) with criminal breach of trust, cheating, and acting with common intention, alongside separate charges under the Arms Act.
