Five arrested over ₹24L higway robbery in Ghaziabad; six absconding

Ghaziabad: Days after a man from Meerut travelling by an SUV was allegedly robbed of ₹24

Ghaziabad: Days after a man from Meerut travelling by an SUV was allegedly robbed of ₹24.85 lakh in cash in Ghaziabad on August 21, police on Tuesday arrested five suspects over the incident, officials said, adding that ₹10 lakh were confiscated from their possession.

One of the suspects was identified as 38-yr-old neighbour of the victim. He is arrested. Another suspect, aged 28 and still absconding, is the victim’s former driver who quit the job a month ago. (Representational image)

“Two of the suspects were known to the victim, one is his neighbour in Meerut, and another, who is absconding, is his former driver. The prime suspects had been planning the robbery for the past 5-6 months and knew about the movement of a large amount of cash. They also roped in other suspects for the robbery,” said deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Dhawal Jaiswal, adding six suspects are still absconding.

“Police formed several teams and traced the suspects through scanning of 500-600 CCTV footages and also through electronic surveillance,” the DCP added.

One of the suspects was identified as 38-yr-old neighbour of the victim. He is arrested. Another suspect, aged 28 and still absconding, is the victim’s former driver who quit the job a month ago.

Two of the total five arrested suspects were identified to be aged 29 years, and the two others are aged 27 and 26 years. The four belong to Arthala and New Hindon Vihar areas in Ghaziabad.

All five were arrested near Wave City in Ghaziabad.

The robbery had taken place on August 21 late night, when the victim, a Meerut resident and son of a businessman dealing in garbage processing, was heading to Delhi’s Jafrabad to drop cash in his Mahindra Thar. He was accompanied by two relatives.

As they reached Wave City, several men in a Mahindra Scorpio intercepted their SUV and on the pretext of searching for a runaway sister, they made off with the man’s cash on gun-point.

Police registered an FIR for robbery at the Wave City Police Station on August 22.