Businessman robbed of Rs4.5 lakh cash on Delhi flyover

Sunil Kumar Jain was going to his house in Bihari Colony on his two-wheeler when he stopped on the Yudhisthir Setu to make a phone call when four robbers attacked him

Delhi Police have arrested four men for robbing a businessman of ₹4.5 lakh in cash from the Yudhisthir Setu flyover near north Delhi’s Kashmere Gate on June 27, officers aware of the case said on Monday.

The incident took place on Yudhishthir Setu near Kashmere Gate. Four suspects have been arrested. (HT Photo)

Police said the Yudhisthir Setu heist was planned and executed by five people, identified as Junaid Qureshi, Nadeem, Javed Ahmed, Sameer and Firoz. The first four have been arrested while Firoz remains on the run. “Qureshi and Nadeem have 12 previous cases, including robbery and under the Arms Act, between them. The other two have one previous criminal case each,” said Kalsi. Sagar Singh Kalsi, deputy commissioner of police (north).

Officers said they have recovered ₹60,000 of the robbed cash as well as motorcycle that the suspects bought with the proceeds of the crime. A search for the remaining cash and the victim’s scooter continues, they said.

Giving details of the crime, police said on the evening of June 27, khoya trader Sunil Kumar Jain was driving his two-wheeler from his workplace at Mori Gate to his house Bihari Colony. He stopped on the Yudhisthir Setu to make a phone call when four robbers attacked him.

“When he stopped on the Yudhishir Setu, four robbers on a motorcycle and scooter intercepted him and at gunpoint robbed his scooter, which had the cash in its boot space,” said the DCP.

When the police began checking the CCTV footage for clues, they found that the suspects changed their clothes in the middle of their escape and chose the narrow arterial streets while fleeing. The police said that they scanned a total of over 500 CCTVs before one camera captured the house of one of the suspects. The police waited for a couple of days for any visitors to arrive before raiding the house and learning that it was taken on rent by a man who had moved to Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh.

Thereafter, between Friday and Sunday, the police raided multiple locations in Uttar Pradesh, arresting Ahmed from Hardoi, Samir from Loni in Ghaziabad, Nadeem from Mustafabad and Junaid from Badaun.

The suspects, police said, were inspired by the brazen robbery of ₹2 lakh from two cab passengers inside the Pragati Maidan tunnel on June 24. Officers said the suspects scanned newspaper clippings for tips on how investigators analyse CCTV footage for clues after crimes, so that they could avoid those mistakes. So, while approaching the crime spot, as well as while escaping, the robbers chose narrow streets which were less likely to have CCTV coverage, said Kalsi.

“We found on their mobile phones several clips of news clippings about police’s CCTV investigative methods,” said the DCP.