Ludhiana: Three masked men allegedly vandalised a Maruti Suzuki Ritz car parked outside a house in Smart City Colony in the early hours of Monday. The accused arrived on a scooter without a registration number plate, smashed the vehicle’s window panes using a hammer and then fled. The incident was captured on a CCTV camera installed outside the house.According to the CCTV footage, the incident occurred at around 1.52am. The footage shows three masked men reaching the spot on a scooter. Two of them got off the vehicle and attacked the car, targeting the rear windshield and side windows. After damaging the car, all three fled from the area on the scooter.Car owner, Himanshu, a private firm employee, said he had no personal enmity with anyone and was unable to understand why his car was targeted. Himanshu added that the hammer allegedly used by the attackers to smash the windows was later found inside the car seat.He said he lodged a complaint at Jagatpuri police post and also shared the CCTV footage with the police. The footage clearly shows the accused wearing masks, though the scooter being used did not have a number plate.Residents said this was not the first such incident in the locality. Geeta Verma, another resident of Smart City Colony, said her Maruti Baleno car was vandalised in a similar manner about a week ago. She said the side windows of her car had been smashed, but since there were no CCTV cameras installed near her house, her family assumed that the damage might have been caused by a child. As a result, they did not lodge a police complaint and simply got the windows repaired.Verma said the latest incident made her realise that the same miscreants could be responsible for repeated acts of vandalism in the area. She added that over the past two-and-a-half months, nearly four cars in the locality had been damaged in a similar fashion, though the reason behind the incidents remained unclear due to the lack of video evidence at the time.Residents of Smart City Colony have now demanded strict police action and increased night patrolling in the area to prevent such incidents in future.ASI Sukhjinder Singh, in-charge of Jagatpuri police post, said police had received a complaint and an inquiry was underway. He said CCTV footage was being examined, but since the accused were masked, identifying them would take time. He added that efforts were being made to trace the suspects.
