Three days after four motorbike-borne men robbed a delivery agent and one of his associates of Rs 2 lakh at gunpoint inside the Pragati Maidan tunnel, the Delhi police have apprehended seven men, who were allegedly involved in the incident that took place on Saturday.
According to Special CP Ravindra Yadav, till now seven people have been arrested and the case has been solved.
“The police of several districts were involved in the investigation. Usman (25), a resident of the Kaushik enclave in Burari, was the mastermind. He got in touch with another person, Irfan, and decided to go ahead with the plan of robbery…
They got in touch with two other accused and made a deal,” Yadav said.
The daylight robbery was caught on a CCTV camera installed inside the tunnel, which connects New Delhi with Sarai Kale Khan and Noida. The video purportedly showed the armed men intercepting a car inside the busy tunnel in the heart of the city and robbing its occupants — Patel Saajan Kumar, a delivery agent at Omiya Enterprises in Chandni Chowk, and his associate–at gunpoint, while they were carrying cash worth Rs 2 Lakh in a bag, intended for delivery in Gurugram.
350 CCTV Cameras Scanned
Police said that footage obtained from more than 350 CCTV cameras was scanned in the last 48 hours to identify the four motorcycle-borne men who allegedly robbed the delivery agent and his associate.
The staff of the delivery agent’s company, his employer and associates have also been questioned by the police.
“We have scanned the footage obtained from more than 350 CCTV cameras installed along the route towards the Pragati Maidan tunnel and the way ahead to ascertain the route taken by the assailants after carrying out the robbery,” a senior police officer said.
“Though CCTV cameras captured the incident clearly, we could not see the faces of the motorcycle-borne robbers as they were wearing helmets,” he added.
The police suspect the involvement of more than four people in the robbery and said they have got clues regarding the modus operandi of the accused.
“We suspect six people were involved in the robbery. Though the involvement of the four accused has been established through the CCTV footage, the probe so far has revealed that the robbery was executed on the directions of someone else, who could be an insider and knew that the victim was carrying a huge amount of cash on that particular day,” he said.
The Case
A 22-second video of the incident received by the police shows that the four men were following the taxi on two motorcycles and intercepted it inside the tunnel as other vehicles passed by.
As the taxi stopped, the two men riding pillion got off the motorcycles. While one of them went towards the driver’s seat, the other went towards the rear door of the car, both apparently whipping out their pistols. All four were wearing helmets.
The footage then showed that the car gates opened and the man at the rear door was handed over a black handbag, apparently containing the money. The two men then quickly hopped onto the waiting motorcycles and fled with their accomplices.
Officials said the incident was caught in one of the CCTV cameras installed inside the 1.5-km tunnel that connects New Delhi with Sarai Kale Khan and Noida.
A case has been registered under sections 397 (robbery, or dacoity, with an attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, the police said.
Security Upped In City
Two days after the robbery, the Delhi Police intensified its night patrolling and launched a massive checking drive across the city on Monday, with senior officers keeping a strict vigil in a bid to contain street crimes. Police personnel in huge numbers have been deployed across the 15 districts of the force to check suspicious movements and curb criminal activities.
To arrest the seven suspects in the heist case, Delhi police took around 1,600 people and seized about 2,000 vehicles during night patrols. “Around 1,587 people were taken into preventive custody by the police from the Central district area last night. They have been detained under section 107/151 of CrPC,” Delhi police said.
The special drive is being carried out under the supervision of the special commissioners of police (law and order) of two zones — Dependra Pathak and Sagar Preet Hooda — who will also be on the ground to ensure that no untoward incident takes place and citizens feel safe to travel even late at night, a senior police officer said.
Intensified checking is being carried out at all important locations, including Red Fort, the Pragati Maidan tunnel, the main roads, dark spots and border areas of the national capital. Extra pickets have also been installed at important spots to keep an eye on suspicious vehicles, the officer said.
Checking is also being carried out to ensure that barricades have been placed at multiple points to prevent incidents of robbery and street crimes, he added.
(With PTI Inputs)
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