Suspects held for Sector 45 robbery had 25 houses on radar: Cops

Gururgam: A day after three members of a gang were arrested for allegedly robbing a 42-year-old woman of jewellery and cash worth ₹2 crore in Sector 45, the police

Gururgam: A day after three members of a gang were arrested for allegedly robbing a 42-year-old woman of jewellery and cash worth ₹2 crore in Sector 45, the police on Saturday revealed that the miscreants had shortlisted 25 houses in the city for burglary and had marked many of them by keeping bricks near their gates.

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The police said a team was sent to Gonda in Uttar Pradesh to recover the loot that the robbers had hidden in a village where they took shelter.

On Friday, the three gang members, identified as Jawahar Lal alias Bachau, Santosh alias Gagan, and Ram Cheila — all residents of Ramnagar village of Gonda, were arrested.

The police said that the alleged mastermind, Jawahar, was proving to be a tough nut to crack as he had been changing his statements to mislead the officials.

Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said that the police took the three suspects in custody for eight days to take them to the village for the recovery and to arrest the fourth associate who is on the run. “We want to recover the remaining amount from their possession. They have spent nearly ₹2.5 lakh in their travel, shopping and buying a motorcycle out of ₹5 lakh cash they had robbed,” he said.

According to Sangwan, the suspects during questioning said they wandered in residential areas during daytime to identify locked houses that could be robbed. “The suspects had prepared a map of the shortlisted 25 houses which were locked during the day and had marked them. Another house on their radar was in Sector 31, but they fled from the city after successfully robbing the woman in Sector 45. A kit bag containing cutting instruments such as electronic cutter and a specially made iron axel rods which were used to cut and break locks by the robbers have also been recovered,” said Sangwan.

The gang members have been arrested six times in the past and are wanted in Delhi, UP, Rajasthan and Noida, said the police.

The modus operandi in most of the cases was similar and the suspects were identified through closed-circuit television (CCTV) footages and informers.

Sangwan said the suspects have been involved in similar cases for the past six years and have built houses in their village. “They have confessed to targeting more than 50 houses in the city and have sold the loot to some jewellers in different parts of UP. We are trying to crack some unsolved cases,” he said, adding that the jewellers involved in the cases will also be questioned.