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Six robbers held last week had ‘trained’ in UP, wanted to start their own school to train criminals
Gurugram: The six members of a gang arrested last week allegedly “trained” to be robbers in Uttar Pradesh last year, before carrying out heists in the National Capital
Gurugram: The six members of a gang arrested last week allegedly “trained” to be robbers in Uttar Pradesh last year, before carrying out heists in the National Capital Region (NCR), and were planning to start their own school to train future criminals, said the police on Tuesday.
The suspects were arrested on Friday and Saturday from different locations over their alleged involvement in an armed robbery at a jewellery shop in Sadar Bazar’s Roshanpura area on September 19. Officers said they have been allegedly involved in dozens of armed robberies at jewellery shops in the NCR.
According to Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), the suspects allegedly revealed during questioning that they took a month-long training from criminals in Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh. They were trained in making route maps, placement of gang members during the robbery, which route to select after identifying the shop, how to avoid CCTVs and how to target victims,” he said.
The suspects were identified as Varun alias Sonu (32) of Kaithal, Mintu (24) of Nathupur in Gurugram, Harsh (19) of Badshahpur, Tony (24) of Sector 65, Sunil Kumar (27) of Madhya Pradesh and Sourya of Kasganj in UP.
Police said Sourya had allegedly introduced the other suspects to his friends in Kasganj who were involved in more than 80 criminal cases, including murder.
“Sourya was earlier part of a UP gang and was involved in 20 snatching cases. He fled to Gurugram along with two of his friends and joined Varun’s gang. He took them to his hometown and lodged them at his house. They all robbed more than 11 people in a month and snatchings from 17 people. Sourya was planning to start his own “training school” for robberies and snatchings before he was caught,” said Sangwan.
Officers said that the gang was allegedly planning to start a business and for that they had planned to rob at least five jewellers in Gurugram, but their planning failed and they were identified via CCTV footage.
Varun had allegedly joined hands with Sourya and they had finalised a place in the outskirts of Kasganj where they would have started their training school by the end of December, said the police.
Sangwan said the suspects were allegedly planning to train young snatchers and robbers and were planning to keep a cut from their earnings. “They were planning to come up with “packages” for the training school and had started connecting with criminals in UP and Haryana lodged in jails to get them on board,” he said.
Narender Chauhan, in-charge, crime investigation agency, Sector 18, said that all six gang members were allegedly well trained but could not conduct reconnaissance of inner lanes connected to Sadar market, in which they were captured. “They had to change their route last minute while fleeing with the ornaments and cash due to traffic congestion, which was not in their original plan. They had stopped at three locations and had come out of the car, where they were identified,” he said.
Chauhan said his team will be sent to Kasganj for further investigation on Thursday and that they are coordinating with the local police there.
The suspects were produced before the court on Tuesday and were sent to 14 days’ judicial custody.
