Delhi tunnel robbery video out, two culprits held

The development came even as a dispute raged between the police and the Public Works Department (PWD) over when the crime was reported

The Delhi Police announced late on Monday that they apprehended two people in connection with a brazen robbery in the Pragati Maidan tunnel. They added that the remaining two suspects were identified, and raids were on to nab them.

The CCTV footage of Saturday’s robbery emerged on Monday, and was shared widely on social media.

The development came even as a dispute raged between the police and the Public Works Department (PWD) over when the crime was reported.

Staff at a control room set up to monitor live CCTV footage from the Pragati Maidan tunnel told the Delhi Police about the ₹2 lakh robbery that took place there around 3pm on Saturday within five minutes of the incident, PWD officials said on Monday.

The police refuted this, saying that the crime was reported to them around 5.30pm when the two victims visited the Tilak Marg police station.

PWD officials, who asked not to be named, said the control room staff reported the matter to police control room (PCR). “The police team came two hours later to collect the footage which we gave them,” a PWD official said, asking not to be named.

A senior police officer said this was not accurate. “We checked with the Tilak Nagar police station and PCR. No call was made either by the victims or anybody from the PWD control room staff,” the senior officer said. He, too, asked not to be named.

This is the latest in a spree of crimes in full public view in the city. Such instances are a strong stain on law and order, especially since street crimes, while not always heinous, can strip a city of its sense of safety.

Last Thursday, a man was shot at in his car in Chittaranjan Park area. Then on June 18, a DU student was stabbed to death by a group of people outside Aryabhatta College; and on the same day two sisters were shot dead in front of their family in RK Puram.

The CCTV footage of Saturday’s robbery emerged on Monday, and was shared widely on social media. The footage shows four men on two bikes — a TVS Apache and a Hero Splendor — force a Maruti Suzuki Dzire taxi to stop. As soon as the car comes to a halt, the Apache motorbike stops in front of the car and two men on the other bike stop near the front passenger door.

Footage shows the pillion riders from both the bikes get down, flashing guns. While one opens the door and points the gun at the driver, the other rider goes to the left side of the car and opens the rear door. He snatches a black bag from the passenger on the rear seat and quickly sits on the Splendor bike. Several vehicles slow down and pass by during the robbery, the footage shows.

The tunnel is close to Pragati Maidan’s convention centre, the venue for the G20 Summit meeting in September, and is guarded by at least 70 CCTV cameras and 12 private security guards, according to PWD officials.

According to the FIR, the complainant, Patel Sajan Kumar, told the police that he and his colleague, Jigar Patel, boarded the cab from near Red Fort to reach Gurugram. The cab entered the tunnel from the Ring Road loop, when the robbers struck. “The robbers wore helmets, so I could not see their faces and wouldn’t be able to identify them. I informed my employer about the robbery and he arrived there. Thereafter, he brought us to the police station,” Kumar said in his complaint.

Police said that the robbers exited through the tunnel on Purana Quila Road and were further captured on a CCTV camera on Mathura Road near Delhi Zoo, moving towards south Delhi. The police suspect that the robbers either took the India Gate Circle and Shershah Road to reach Mathura Road or they could have taken a U-turn on the Purana Quila Road after exiting the tunnel to reach Mathura Road. “Our investigation so far revealed that the robbers were following the delivery agents from Chandni Chowk area. They might be aware that cash was being transported in the cab. We are also probing if an insider tipped off the robbers,” said an investigator.

On Monday night, police announced that two of the suspects had been apprehended from north Delhi’s Burari — one nabbed by the crime branch, and the other by north district police. They said two others involved in the robbery were identified.

Experts have raised questions over the brazenness of the crime. “The armed robbery did not happen at any isolated spot, but at a place where people are moving in their vehicles. The way the robbers committed the crime shows that they had no fear of police and were confident that they would get away,” said former IPS officer Ashok Chand.

Police in a statement said that special commissioner of police (law and order) Sagar Preet Hooda along with other officers is patrolling New Delhi, especially around the Pragati Maidan tunnel, to take stock of the police presence in the area.