Delhi robbers target taxi driver, visually impaired passengers; arrested within 20 minutes

One of the suspects was found in a parked Gramin Sewa vehicle. He was nabbed and, at his instance, his alleged associate too was caught within 20 minutes

Two men took advantage of two visually impaired passengers in a taxi to rob its driver of cash and mobile phone in south Delhi’s Mehrauli early Wednesday, the police said. They arrested two suspects within 20 minutes of the crime.

Rohit and (right) Akash Khatta. (HT Photo)

Atul Kumar Thakur, the deputy commissioner of police (south), said that the robbers wanted to rob the two visually impaired passengers as well, but they didn’t find any items on them during the hurried robbery.

The crime took place around 12.30am on Wednesday.

Two visually challenged men hired a taxi to go to Mehrauli. “When the taxi reached Mehrauli, neither the driver nor the passengers knew the route ahead. So, the driver offered his mobile phone to one of the visually challenged passengers to call someone and ask for help,” another police officer said.

In the meantime, the two suspects, who were loitering in the area, realised that the passengers were visually challenged and decided to take advantage of the situation.

“They turned off the car’s ignition, held the driver down by the neck, threatened him against raising the alarm, and robbed his phone and ₹1,000 in cash. They then turned their attention to the two passengers, but couldn’t find anything valuable on them. They then ran away,” DCP Thakur said.

As soon as they were gone, the driver Shiv Charan, began shouting for help. “Soon, a police van reached the spot. Realising that the robbers couldn’t have made it very far since they were on foot, they asked the driver to accompany them in the vehicle as they went about looking for the suspects,” said the DCP.

Within 10 minutes, one of the suspects was found in a parked Gramin Sewa vehicle. He was nabbed and, at his instance, his alleged associate too was caught within 20 minutes of the crime.

The robbed cash and phone were recovered from them.

The nabbed suspects were identified as Akash Khatta and Rohit (who goes by his first name)—both 23 years old. While Khatta had four previous cases of robbery and snatching registered against him, Rohit had been involved in one other crime, said the officer.