Ola cab driver murder: Two juveniles among six held; 16 cases solved

With the arrest of a gang of six people, including two juveniles, the police claim to have solved 16 cases of murder, theft and loot with the June 26 murder of a Ola cab driver in Phase 5 also being cracked. The accused were arrested from Kurali on secret information.
The accused have been identified as Hardeep Singh alias Baba (18), of Chanalo village, Sandeep Rana alias Happy (20), of Lohgarh, Sunil alias Nitti (27), and Atinder Pal Singh alias Roky (25), of Kurali.
“The gang had been operating in the area for the last three years. With their arrest we have solved a total of 16 cases, including the murder of the Ola cab driver,” said SAS Nagar SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar.
“Atinder, Sandeep and Hardeep along with one juvenile had killed the cab driver after their attempt to loot him failed,” the SSP added.
The murder case
A 44-year-old driver from Rajpura Manoj Kumar, working with Ola Cabs, was murdered on June 26 in the Phase-5 market in SAS Nagar.
Police claimed the victim, Manoj Kumar, was stabbed in the neck while he was sleeping in his Tata Indica. Police said the gang members operated on motorcycles.
They spotted the victim near Cheema Hospital, Phase 4, and , finding him a soft target, decided to loot him at a knifepoint. The accused tried to snatch his bag containing cash following which Manoj fled from the spot.
Who are the accused
The accused are drug addicts and a few drug tablets were recovered from them. Hardeep, a factory employee, and Sandeep, who is unemoployed, are Class-12 passouts. Sunil works as a labourer and Atinderpal Singh is a Class-8 drop out.
Two pair of gold earrings
Two pair of gold earrings, three rings for men, two gold chains, a woman’s ring, a ring and a chain in silver. In a startling modus operandi, the accused used to mix intoxicants in the water of coolers in homes. This method did work for them in several cases, until their arrest on Sunday.