Three robbers nabbed after shootout with police in Delhi’s Dwarka

Police said the accused — identified as Sahil alias Chintu,22, Anil, 22, and Ashwani Rajoura, 29 — fired one round at them and they retaliated by firing back once. Nobody was injured in the shootout.

Three men — who committed a series of street crimes like robbery and car thefts in southwest and west Delhi areas in the past one month — were arrested from Dwarka Sector 23 after a brief shootout on Wednesday morning.

Three cars, six motorcycles, four guns, and nine mobile phones were recovered from the accused. (AP/Picture for representation)

Police said the accused — identified as Sahil alias Chintu,22, Anil, 22, and Ashwani Rajoura, 29 — fired one round at them and they retaliated by firing back once. Nobody was injured in the shootout.

According to the police, Sahil was the leader of the gang. He had started as a food delivery executive with a luxury hotel in Dwarka before turning to the world of crime. Three cars, six motorcycles, four guns, and nine mobile phones were recovered from them.

Police claimed the arrested men were involved in as many as nine criminal incidents recorded between July 29 and August 21. Seven of them were committed on three successive nights, August 19, 20 and 21. The victims of the gang included an Indian Army captain, a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) head constable, and a guard of a cash replenishment company.

On August 21 night, the trio first robbed the guard Surender Singh’s gun near a luxury hotel in Dwarka Sector-13. They along with their accomplices then used the weapon to rob Army officer, Mukul Verma, of his Nisaan Micra car and ATM card, around 3km from the first crime spot.

Two more similar cases were reported on the night of August 19, including an incident in which CISF head constable Budh Prakash was robbed of his motorcycle and ₹4,000 in Dwarka Sector 14, said Anto Alphonse, DCP (Dwarka).

The DCP said the back-to-back crimes put the district police staff on their toes. “Several teams were formed to identify the men, who were on a rampage on the streets in Dwarka and west Delhi districts,” said Alphonse.

During probe, the teams learnt that the same gang of robbers had also robbed a food delivery boy, a newspaper vendor and a cab driver of their vehicle, cash and other belongings in Dwarka and Punjabi Bagh in last 20 days.

Investigators analysed CCTV footage of areas near the crime spots. They found that the robbers had abandoned the Army officer’s car in Mehram Nagar after it was punctured. The robbers had also abandoned the robbed Maruti Swift Dzire cab while being chased by police.

“We lifted finger prints from the abandoned cars and matched it with our database of criminals. This led us to one of the suspects,” said the DCP.

Around 4am on Wednesday, a staff team spotted the three men riding a motorcycle in Dwarka Sector 23 and asked them to stop. However, the suspects fired a bullet and tried to flee. “One of our team members retaliated and fired a bullet in self defence. The men were later overpowered and nabbed,” he said.