Residents flag illegal dumping, unauthorised construction near Sec 102

Four Bangladeshi nationals were arrested for robbing a retired colonel’s family, taking valuables worth ₹15 lakh, and injuring themselves while fleeing.

Four Bangladeshi nationals were caught on Wednesday for robbery after they allegedly held family members of a retired army colonel hostage inside their house and took valuables worth at least ₹15 lakh in Sector 23 on June 4, police said on Saturday.

Residents said construction materials are being stored at the site and trucks and earth-moving machinery frequently operate in the area.

According to investigators, a team of the Palam Vihar crime branch led by sub-inspector Manoj traced their location in Bajghera.

Police said that the team chased the suspects, who panicked and jumped into the Dwarka Expressway underpass. All four ended up with multiple fractures due to their fall.

Police identified the suspects as Mohammad Khairul Arman, 52, Mohammad Maman, 35, Mohammad Hilal, 25 and Mamo Khan, 26, all Bangladeshi nationals.

Naveen Sharma, ACP (crime), said that all four are presently undergoing treatment at the Civil Hospital in Sector 10A and will be formally arrested after getting discharged.

“These suspects had carried out reconnaissance of multiple houses in Sector 23 after which they sneaked inside the officer’s house. We will interrogate them to recover the looted valuables,” he said.

Sharma said Arman was the gang leader and had been illegally staying in India since 2004.

“He had made Delhi’s Sangam Vihar their hideout from where they operated. They were involved in armed robberies in four more houses in Gurugram’s Palam Vihar area. More gang and family members are yet to be arrested,” ACP said.

“After every three to four robberies, the gang used to flee to Bangladesh to keep the looted valuables,” he said.

Investigators said that afterwards, they used to illegally reenter India to reach Delhi for committing armed robberies and burglary.

Officials said Hilal has 12 criminal cases of dacoity, theft, illegal arms possession registered against him in Delhi, Arman has eight cases of murder, dacoity, robbery, theft and sections of the Gangster Act registered against him in Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and Maman has three cases of robbery, dacoity and theft against him in Delhi and Gurugram.

According to police, the armed robbery took place between 2.09 am and 3.15 am when the suspects entered the first floor of the retired colonel CL Jain’s house by cutting the window grill. The suspects took his son Vikas Jain, 48, daughter-in-law Rakhi Jain, 45, and their 11-year-old daughter hostage to loot all the valuables.

The colonel, 80, his wife Sudha Jain, 75, son Aseem Jain, 45 and grandson Siddhant Jain, 20, were asleep on the ground floor at the time.