Altercation, not looting took place: Police

Rejecting claims of a state-owned PRTC bus conductor over being robbed at gunpoint, police here on Wednesday said that no such incident took place.

The conductor had alleged that early this morning when he was standing outside of bus near Ludhiana toll plaza, three unidentified people, two on a motorcycle and another on a scooter, looted Rs 10,000 from him at gunpoint.

According to police, during investigation it was found out that three youths had stopped the PEPSU Road Transport Corporation bus and hurled abuses at the conductor, indicating some altercations.

Police Commissioner Kaustabh Sharma said that no incident of looting cash at gunpoint or hijacking of the bus has taken place.

Police issued a statement and released a CCTV footage of the incident after several political leaders of opposition parties took on the Aam Aadmi Party-led government over law and order situation in Punjab.

While releasing CCTV footage of the incident, police said, none of the passengers have been harmed and no belongings have been snatched. The bus was going from Ludhiana to Jalandhar, said police. Informing that one of the three accused have been identified, the commissioner asked the people not to believe any rumours.

Earlier in the day, former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh referred to the incident as an instance of ''Jungle raj'' in the state. ''Jungle Raj in Punjab! 9 murders in last 2 days. Today a bus hijacked and looted by armed robbers on a busy highway in broad daylight near Ludhiana. @BhagwantMann govt is proving to be disastrous. There's an atmosphere of fear across Punjab,'' Singh tweeted. State Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring also posted, ''Total anarchy, as law and order collapses completely in Punjab. A bus hijacked and passengers looted at gunpoint in broad daylight on busy Ludhiana-Jalandhar highway today. While common man shivers in fear, criminals have no fear of law. @BhagwantMann presides over Jungleraj.'' PTI COR CHS VSD RDT CK