2 civil defence volunteers held for robbery, another arrested for posing as cop to extort mask violators

New Delhi Two civil defence personnel were arrested for allegedly robbing a man outside a mall in the Narela Industrial Area on Monday night

New Delhi Two civil defence personnel were arrested for allegedly robbing a man outside a mall in the Narela Industrial Area on Monday night.

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In a separate incident, another civil defence personnel was arrested in south Delhi’s Sangam Vihar for allegedly posing as a police official and extorting people caught without masks. Police also arrested a cyber cafe owner for helping the man forge a Delhi Police ID card.

Civil defence personnel are volunteers of the state government who work under the district magistrate of each district in Delhi and help government in their day-to-day activities. They do not have the authority to arrest or fine anyone, and often help in managing security at hospitals, vaccination centres and creating awareness on government’s initiatives, such as odd-even road rationing scheme.

In the first incident, police said two men – Gaurav(20) and Ayush(21), identified by their first names in police records – had robbed a Sonepat resident, Vikas Kumar, who was on his way to a bus stop along with his friend. The victim had reached MSP Mall in Narela when the two accused stopped Kumar, assaulted him and snatched his cell phone.

A police officer, privy to the case details, said that a team of police constables, who were patrolling in the nearby area, heard Kumar shouting for help and rushed to his aid. “The accused tried to flee but our team members chased and arrested them at the spot. We found that they were civil defence volunteers,” the officer said.

In the second case, police arrested another volunteer Suneel Kumar (31), who was allegedly posing as a Delhi police sub inspector and “fining people” for mask violations. Deputy commissioner of police (south) Atul Thakur said police had received information about a man in Sangam Vihar “who looked suspicious”.

“A police team observed the man’s activities and found that he wasn’t from the police station. The team members approached him and asked him to show his ID card. The man showed his ID card but it looked fake. He was taken into custody and questioned. The man turned out to be a civil defence volunteer and disclosed that the ID card was prepared at a cyber cafe. The cafe’s owner, Naveen, was also arrested. The computer used in preparing the fake police ID card was also seized,” added DCP Thakur.