17 years on, law catches up with accused in Amritsar

Mumbai: Seventeen years after Gurnamsingh Gurbirsingh Sandhu (42) jumped bail in Mumbai after his arrest in an attempted robbery case and shifted to Amritsar to begin life anew as a grocery shop owner there, the law caught up with him last week.

Mumbai crime branch (CB) brought Sandhu to Mumbai to put him on trial. A year ago, acting on instructions of the CB top brass to pursue old wanted accused, a CB team had renewed the search for Sandhu and began visiting Amritsar to nab him. The CB team caught hold of him during its fourth visit there.

The case in Mumbai was lodged against Sandhu, who was then aged 25, and two others in 2000 for attempting to rob a petrol pump. After re-locating to Amritsar, he got rid of his long, flowing beard and kept a small French beard and also began using ‘Sandhu’, his middle name, as his surname to evade detection by police agencies.  “To the Mumbai police, he had mentioned Singh as his surname and not the middle name,” said a CB source.

“He was a 25 when he joined two of his friends to rob a petrol pump to make some quick money. Their plan was however scuttled after the unit I of crime branch apprehended the trio from Kurla before they could execute their plan,” said the source.  Despite officials having information that the accused is likely in Amritsar, a CB unit had to return empty handed at least three times in the past, officials said.

Even since he jumped bail and fled to Amritsar, Sandhu had been staying with his wife and children, and the CB was trying to get his location based on tip offs.

“That was Sandhu’s first criminal attempt, which he stated was due to the need of money. While one of them was acquitted in the case, the third person is also on the run and is likely to be nabbed soon,” said an officer, requesting anonymity.