E-Paper
Delhi tunnel robbery: Five more held, suspects followed cash flow in city markets
While three suspects were arrested on Monday, five more were nabbed on Tuesday. Police said it has recovered Rs4.98 lakh cash
More than a dozen men, including three repeat offenders, conspired together for 15 days to plan the Saturday’s brazen armed robbery inside Pragati Maidan tunnel, the police said on Tuesday after arresting a total of eight suspects in the case and recovering Rs4.98 lakh cash from them.
While three suspects were arrested on Monday, five more were nabbed on Tuesday. Senior police officers aware of the investigation added on Tuesday that the two victims who were robbed of a bag were carrying around Rs40lakh in cash, and not ₹2lakh as they had reported in the first information repot.
At least five suspects, including the one who was captured on the CCTV opening the rear door of the cab the two delivery agents were travelling in and snatching the cash bag at gunpoint, are still absconding, the police said. The investigators said that they scanned over 250 cameras in the last two days to nab the suspects.
After robbing the two delivery agents of the cash bag by intercepting the cab they were travelling in, the four robbers on two bikes exited the tunnel at Purana Quila Road and took the India Gate Circle to reach Connaught Place. From there, they took Ring Road to reach a flat in Burari, which, as per their plan, was the assembly point after the crime, two officers said, quoting the disclosures of the arrested men.
On Saturday around 3pm, two delivery agents -- Patel Sajan Kumar and Jigar Patel – were travelling to Gurugram in a cab that they had boarded from near Red Fort to deliver cash to their employer’s friend, when the four bike-borne robbers intercepted their taxi inside the tunnel and robbed them of the cash bag at gunpoint. The entire crime was captured on a CCTV camera and its footage that surfaced on Monday was widely shared on social media, attracting sharp criticism from several quarters, including Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, about the city’s law and order situation.
Police teams from New Delhi and North districts as well as crime branch were formed to identify and nab the suspects. By Monday afternoon, the police identified the four suspects and launched a manhunt. By late night, a crime branch team led by Inspector Mamneet Malik arrested Usman Ali,25 -- the alleged the mastermind -- Anuj Mishra,26, and Kuldeep alias Lungad,26, following raids in Delhi’s Burari and in Haryana, said special commissioner of police (crime) Ravindra Yadav.
“The interrogation of the three led to the arrest of Irfan,22, a cousin of Ali, and Sumit alias Akash,19 from Burari area. Three more suspects, identified as Pradeep alias Sonu, 34, Amit alias Bala,19, and Vishal,21, were arrested by the joint team of North and New Delhi districts from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi on Tuesday,” said Yadav. The officer said that two stolen bikes and one of the two guns used in the robbery were also recovered along with two cartridges.
Special commissioner Yadav said that Ali planned the robbery to repay loans worth nearly Rs13 lakh. He worked as a delivery agent for e-commerce sites and was out of work. Since he worked in Chandni Chowk area he knew about the movement of cash in old Delhi areas such as Kuch Mahajani and Kuch Ghasiram, said Yadav.
“Ali planned to rob agents who moved cash from these areas, and roped in Pradeep, Kuldeep and Anuj -- involved various criminal cases -- to execute his plan. He also included his cousin Irfan and others in the conspiracy. They took a few rooms on rent in Burari, met there, and planned every step meticulously. Ali and Sumit conducted reconnaissance in Chandni Chowk to understand the working of cash delivery agents and the usual routes they take,” Yadav said.
On Saturday around 2.30pm, Ali and Sumit spotted the two delivery agents leaving Chandni Chowk in the cab and alerted their four associates, who were on the two bikes. Anuj was riding the TVS Apache bike with Bala as his pillion rider. Irfan rode the Hero Splendor bike and Sohail, who is still absconding, rode pillion. The four intercepted the cab inside the tunnel at gunpoint. It was Sohail who robbed the agents of their cash bag at gunpoint, the police said.
After the robbery, all the conspirators met at Ali’s flat in Burari, where they distributed money, partied till late evening and left. Half of them left for Haridwar on a short trip and returned to Delhi on Monday morning, the police said.
