Six arrested for robbing a Ghaziabad home of valuables

Police said the gang also allegedly planned to abduct the family’s three-year-old son in order to demand a hefty ransom, but could not do so as the child was not at home when they struck the house

The Ghaziabad police early on Saturday morning arrested six persons who allegedly robbed a family in Sahibabad of valuables on Wednesday.

The police said that the six men decided to target the house of 62-year-old Manju Gupta after getting to know that she recently received about ₹3 crore on some transaction. (Representative Image)

Police said the gang also allegedly planned to abduct the family’s three-year-old son in order to demand a hefty ransom, but could not do so as the child was not at home when they struck the house.

The police identified the suspects as Roshan Singh, Ankush Singh, Harsh Bhatia and Rajesh Sharma -- residents of Lajpat Nagar in Ghaziabad -- and their accomplices, Shahrukh Abbasi and Varun Kashyap --residents of Pasonda and Shibbanpura in Ghaziabad.

The police said that the six men decided to target the house of 62-year-old Manju Gupta after getting to know that she recently received about ₹3 crore on some transaction.

“Four of the six are locals and known to each other and they enlisted the help of the two accomplices. Roshan lives in same locality as Gupta. He told his friends that there was a buzz in the neighbourhood that Gupta had received ₹3 crore recently. So, he and his friends planned a robbery and also planned to abduct Gupta’s three-year-old grandson to demand a ransom. They barged into her house on the night of July 26 only to find Gupta’s daughter-in-law, Takshshila, alone at home; even her minor son was not there,” said Bhaskar Verma, assistant commissioner of police (Sahibabad).

While the three were inside Gupta’s house, the other three kept watch outside. Just then, Gupta’s son Saurabh arrived there and the suspects fled after looting ₹12,000 and seven ATM cards from Takshshila after holding her at gunpoint.

The family informed the police and filed a complaint of robbery the same night.

“Our teams were conducting a vehicle check early Saturday morning and they stopped the six men on their motorcycles. We recovered several ATM cards from their possession and during questioning, they told us that they had taken these at gunpoint from Gupta’s house. They told us their plan was to abduct her grandson but could not carry it out as the child was not at home. The six were arrested and booked,” the ACP said.

A case under Indian Penal Code sections 393 (attempt to commit robbery), 386 (demanding extortion by putting person in fear of death or grievous hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) and provisions of the Arms Act was registered against the six men.