IIT flyover robbery: Cops chased suspects for 8km, 10 tems formed to crack case

A gang of motorcycle-borne robbers, who allegedly stabbed and robbed a Spicejet pilot on the IIT flyover in the early hours of Wednesday, were chased by a police

A gang of motorcycle-borne robbers, who allegedly stabbed and robbed a Spicejet pilot on the IIT flyover in the early hours of Wednesday, were chased by a police team for nearly eight kilometers before they managed to slip away, the Delhi Police said.

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The police have now formed 10 teams, comprising a total of around 100 personnel, to crack the case, Devender Arya, deputy commissioner of police (south-west) said.

“We are checking CCTV footage of that entire eight-kilometre stretch. The registration numbers of the motorcycles and scooters would have certainly been captured by one of those cameras. It is just a matter of time before we crack the case,” said Arya.

The Spicejet pilot was targeted by the gang when he was travelling from his home in Faridabad towards Delhi’sIndira Gandhi International Airport. The man was allegedly intercepted by the gang on the IIT-Delhi flyover around 1.30 am on Wednesday.

While the pilot has told the police that there were atleast eight to 10 suspects, investigators believe that there were four or five men riding three motorcycles and scooters.

According to the pilot’s complaint, the robbers intercepted the cab, smashed its windows and pointed a gun at his forehead.

“One of them robbed Rs10,000 cash from him while another stabbed him in his thigh,” the DCP said. The injury sustained by the pilot is not life threatening, the officer added.

The driver was allegedly let off with after being slapped once.

Later, even as the pilot made a call to the police control room (PCR), an emergency response vehicle (ERV) of the police patrolling the road below the flyover was alerted by a passerby about the incident, the DCP said.

“The police team took a U-turn and reached the flyover to find four-five men riding away on three motorcycles. The victim pointed at the suspects and told the police team that they had robbed him,” the officer said.

The police immediately launched a chase and pursued the suspects along Aurobindo Marg till Mehrauli, a distance of almost eight kilometers, the DCP said.

“In Mehrauli, the suspects took a sudden turn and disappeared into the bylanes. We lost them there,” said the DCP.

But the police have charted out the route of the chase and are checking CCTV footages along the route, the officer said. No clues about the suspects had emerged till Thursday evening, the officer added.

HT tried to reach the pilot for his version , but he did not respond to calls and messages. Spicejet too refused to comment on the matter.

The police believe that the gang of bikers comprised history sheeters. “We have activated our sources and are checking the roles of criminals with such a modus operandi,” the DCP said.

Another investigator, who didn’t want to be identified, said that while robbery remains the prime crime, the police are also simultaneously probing if there was a road rage angle involved in the crime.

“There were so many robbers, yet they did not take the victim’s watch or mobile phones. We are probing if it was a case of road rage that turned into robbery,” the investigator said.