Robbery at Chandigarh’s Sector 27: One of three accused lands in police net

The accused, Sunil, alias Sunny, alias Bihari, was one of the three robbers and had left with the victim’s debit card to withdraw money from an ATM, police said

Sector 27 robbery:

₹1,000 in cash and the victim’s Apple AirPods have been recovered from the accused. (HT Photo)

Police have arrested another man involved in the broad daylight robbery in Sector 27 where a model-cum-actor was held captive at knifepoint on September 7.

The accused, Sunil, alias Sunny, alias Bihari, was one of the three robbers and had left with the victim’s debit card to withdraw money from an ATM, police said.

₹1,000 in cash and the victim’s Apple AirPods have been recovered from him.

“Sunil was arrested from near the Sector-43 bus stand. He kept moving around the city after the robbery. He was planning to escape to Nepal to avoid arrest,” said Ketan Bansal, superintendent of police (SP, City), Chandigarh.

This is the second arrest in the case after an auto-rickshaw driver, Prem, alias Motu, was caught on Friday. He had stood guard outside the house with his vehicle, while the robbers, Arjun, alias Nepali, the mastermind; Arjun Kumar and Sunil, went upstairs to rob the victim.

Prem was produced before a court on Saturday and sent to judicial custody after the court declined police’s request for his remand. The court pulled up the police for seeking his custody despite already making recoveries from him. Sunil will be produced in court on Sunday.

In his disclosure, Sunil told the police that after they walked into the woman’s house, he snatched her debit card and Arjun threatened her to reveal the PIN. He also picked up the victim’s AirPods and left for an ATM with Prem in the latter’s auto-rickshaw. They withdrew ₹20,000 from an ATM in Sector 30 and split the amount among themselves.

Police said meanwhile, the other two robbers continued to search the victim’s house for valuables. Finding an opportunity, the victim grabbed the ₹6 lakh kept in a room and locked herself in the bathroom. But she handed over the cash to Nepali after he cut open the bathroom’s mesh window.

Police said after withdrawing the money, Sunil returned to the victim’s house, but his accomplices had already fled. Her debit card and ₹10,000 of the amount withdrawn from the ATM was recovered from Prem following his arrest.