Ghaziabad: MBA student beaten, robbed at gunpoint in auto-rickshaw

The perpetrators snatched the victim’s mobile phone and demanded the PIN of his online wallet, beating him after he refused

A 20-year-old MBA student was allegedly robbed at gunpoint by armed robbers in an auto-rickshaw after deboarding a train at Ghaziabad junction in the early hours of August 29. The incident occurred around 4.30am when the victim hired an auto-rickshaw to travel to his parents’ home in Kailash Nagar, approximately 3 kilometres away, police said.

The victim managed to walk several kilometres along railway tracks to Tilak Bridge railway station in Delhi, where he sought help from a passenger to reach his home in Ghaziabad (Sakib Ali/HT Photo (Representative Image))

The perpetrators dumped him at an unidentified location from where he had to walk several kilometres to reach Tilak Bridge railway station in Delhi, where he sought help from a passenger to reach his home in Ghaziabad, they added.

The victim, identified as Abhishek Mishra, resides in Varanasi and is in his final year of MBA studies, police said. He was returning from an entrance examination in Hardoi and had a train booking from Lucknow to Ghaziabad, they added.

According to his father, Rajesh Kumar Mishra, as Abhishek set out from a nearby tea stall, two more passengers boarded the auto, followed by three additional passengers near the GT Road flyover. “When my son objected to the additional passengers, the driver sped the auto towards Vijay Nagar on the New Link Road. There, two men pulled out country-made weapons and took him at gunpoint while other two pulled out knives,” said Rajesh Kumar Mishra, Abhishek’s father.

They snatched about ₹8,800 from Abhishek, his father added. “When he jumped out of the auto and sought help from another auto following behind, he was forced back into the first auto by three men in the second vehicle, who appeared to be accomplices of the robbers,” said Rajesh Kumar Mishra. “They snatched his mobile phone and demanded the PIN of his online wallet, beating him when he refused to provide it. Later, they dumped him at an unidentified, isolated location.”

Abhishek managed to walk several kilometres along railway tracks to Tilak Bridge railway station in Delhi, where he sought help from a passenger to reach his home in Ghaziabad around 11.30am. His father reported that Abhishek developed a fever and was in a state of shock following the incident. He added that Abhishek has been in a state of shock ever since the incident.

Police registered an FIR under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 309(6) (robbery), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) at Kotwali police station on August 30.

Assistant commissioner of police (Kotwali/Vijay Nagar circle) Ritesh Tripathi, said, “We have registered an FIR in the case, and our teams have started investigating to trace the suspects. We will also take help from CCTVs and local informers to trace the suspects.”