Men who robbed, injured BJP MLA’s mother arrested after shootout in Gzb’s Loni

Police said that on September 9, Waseem and Suhail allegedly rode up to Santoshi Devi, the mother of Bulandshahr BJP MLA Pradeep Chaudhary who lives in Vijay Nagar’s Pratap Vihar, and demanded her earrings at gunpoint

The Ghaziabad Police, in an early morning crackdown in Loni on Friday, arrested three men, two of whom allegedly robbed the 80-year-old mother of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA in Vijay Nagar on September 9. Police said that one of the suspects was shot in the leg during retaliatory firing.

Police identified the three arrested men as Mohammad Waseem, a resident of Masuri, Suhail Ahmad, a resident of Behta Hakipur in Loni, and Pramod Pancha, a resident of Baghpat district, and added a fourth suspect is on the run. (Representative image/Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Police identified the three suspects as Mohammad Waseem, a resident of Masuri, Suhail Ahmad, a resident of Behta Hakipur in Loni, and Pramod Pancha, a resident of Baghpat district, and added a fourth suspect is on the run.

Police said the four suspects, on two motorcycles, were driving near Lal Bagh crossing in Loni on Friday morning when a team tried to stop them for checking.

“The men did not stop and instead tried to ride away while opening several rounds of fire at the policemen. A message was sent to nearby teams and the men were cornered when they were trying to escape to a nearby jungle area. After the suspects fired at the police, the team retaliated and Waseem was shot in the leg. He was taken to a hospital for treatment,” Iraj Raja, superintendent of police (rural), said.

Police said that on September 9, Waseem and Suhail allegedly rode up to Santoshi Devi, the mother of Bulandshahr BJP MLA Pradeep Chaudhary who lives in Vijay Nagar’s Pratap Vihar, and demanded her earrings at gunpoint.

When she refused to hand them over, one of them slashed her earlobes with a sharp object, snatched her earrings, and both of them fled on the motorcycle.

An FIR was registered three days laterat Vijay Nagar police station.

“The two snatched the woman’s earrings and also injured her. We have recovered the earrings from their possession. Together, the three suspects have a criminal history--there are 46 different cases registered against them, a majority of which are related to robberies,” the SP added.

Police said they recovered two robbed motorcycles from the possession of the suspects, including one robbed in Nandgram last monthand one robbed two days ago in Loni.