A terrifying scene of brazen hooliganism—stemming from personal enmity and a business dispute—unfolded at midnight in the Haibowal area of the city, leaving the entire locality in a state of panic. Under the cover of darkness, unidentified masked miscreants poured chemicals onto a factory owner’s car parked outside his home and set it ablaze. The explosion was so powerful that the vehicle, worth lakhs, was reduced to ashes in moments. CCTV footage of the incident has surfaced, leaving the police shocked.
According to the police FIR, this sensational incident occurred on the intervening night of May 30, targeting factory owner Mohammad Shakir, a resident of Gaganpreet Vihar, Haibowal Kalan. As usual, Shakir had parked and locked his black Mahindra KUV 100 in a vacant plot right across from his house. Little did he know that a plot to torch his vehicle was being hatched in the dark of night. CCTV footage reveals that a suspicious i20 car, carrying three masked individuals, arrived and stopped at the scene. The miscreants first scouted the area; then, a young man stepped out of the car holding a bottle. He threw a flammable chemical onto Shakir’s vehicle, and within moments, the car turned into a ball of fire. After executing the crime, the accused fled in their car.
The victim, factory owner Mohammad Shakir, stated that he has no personal enmity with anyone; however, he believes this cowardly attack stems from a business dispute involving his brother-in-law. His brother-in-law had been embroiled in a serious dispute with a business partner for some time, following which he had moved to Ludhiana to work with Shakir. His partner was furious over the brother-in-law’s arrival in Ludhiana and had been repeatedly threatening—via phone calls—to inflict heavy losses and dire consequences. The victim’s family strongly suspects that this very partner orchestrated the attack using hired henchmen. Given the gravity of the situation, the Haibowal police took immediate action and registered a case against the unidentified assailants. Special police teams are now working to trace the registration number of the attackers’ i20 car and analyze their escape route using CCTV footage. Police officials state that a thorough investigation is underway and that all the accused, including the mastermind behind the plot, will soon be apprehended.
