2 pose as pvt cabbies, rob passengers, held

The incident came to light when Avneesh Kumar Tiwari, 26, a resident of Gurugram, reported the matter to the Vasant Kunj North police on Saturday

The Delhi Police has arrested two men who allegedly kidnapped and robbed passengers who hired their private cabs, senior police officers aware of the matter said on Monday. According to police, the suspects would hire luxury SUVs and target people waiting to hire private cabs late at night or early morning.

Police said that during the interrogation, the suspects told them that they used to hire luxury SUVs for ₹5,000 a day. (Representational Image)

Deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Rohit Meena identified the accused as Rahul Kumar, 24, and Rohit Singh, 24, both residents of Gurugram.

The incident came to light when Avneesh Kumar Tiwari, 26, a resident of Gurugram, reported the matter to the Vasant Kunj North police on Saturday. He said that on June 7, around 4.40am, he was waiting at Rangpuri roundabout for a taxi to go home. “Private shared cabs ply on the stretch to ferry people to smaller distances,” said an officer aware of the case.

“I hailed a blue-coloured XUV 700 to be dropped at Hero Honda junction. Two people were sitting inside the vehicle. When the car reached the junction, I told the driver to park on the side and offered to pay online but they continued to drive ahead. When I questioned, the man sitting in the passenger seat threatened to throw me out of the moving vehicle and pulled out a pistol from the dashboard. They thrashed me and robbed me of my phone and credit/debit cards. They forcibly took my phone’s password and pins,” Tiwari told police.

The suspects then threw him out of the car at Dwarka Expressway and fled. Tiwari finally reported the matter to police on June 15.

The Gurugram police had earlier said that the suspects often found it easy to dupe commuters as transport connectivity on the stretch is poor and people opt for private or shared cabs — especially from Mahipalpur in Delhi to Shankar Chowk and Hero Honda Chowk in Gurugram.

Based on Tiwari’s complaint, police registered a case under section 365 (kidnapping), 392 (robbery), 397 (using weapon to commit robbery) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. With the help of CCTV footage, technical surveillance and informers, the accused were arrested on Sunday.

Police said that during the interrogation, the suspects told them that they used to hire luxury SUVs for ₹5,000 a day. It remains to be ascertained where the suspects rented the vehicles from, police added.

“They used to hire luxury vehicles to lure relatively well-off people because there was a possibility of them having valuables and cash. They also targeted people in the wee hours,” said a second investigator. Police have recovered mobile phones and laptops apart from the SUV from the suspects.

The two accused were involved in previous criminal cases. While Kumar was involved in one, Singh was involved in three cases in Delhi and Gurugram. “We are looking for more people associated with them,” police said.