Rogue cabbies run out of luck

Hardened criminals who used to operate at night on Gurgaon roads robbed 40 commuters by offering them lift.

A notorious cabbie gang that had unleashed a wave of terror among Gurgaon residents has finally been busted. With the arrest of five criminals late on Sunday, the police claimed to have solved the case.

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Though the police said only five complaints were received from executives of multinational companies and BPOs in the past one year, the gang members confessed to have robbed at least 40 commuters after giving them lifts.

The accused have been identified as Zuber Khan, 25, Shahid, 21, Islam, 21, Iqbal, 19 and Zafru, 22 — all residents of neighbouring Mewat district. Zuber is the gang leader.

The gang’s modus operandi was to offer victims a lift in their Santro car at night and then assault and rob them. They used to force victims to reveal their ATM passwords and withdraw money, apart from stealing their mobile phones, laptops and other valuables.

A revolver, three live cartridges, a knife, chains used to tie hands of victims, a screwdriver and one iron rod have been found from their possession. The police have also recovered a toy gun.

“He bought the car and formed the gang by roping in his friends,” said Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) incharge Rajveer Singh, the investigating officer.

“The gang had zeroed in on five locations in the city to look for targets. They mostly picked up victims from Iffco Chowk, Shankar Chowk, Rajiv Chowk (all on the Gurgaon Expressway), Dharuhera and Bhiwadi (NH-8)," said sub-inspector Jasvir Singh, another member of the CIA team.

The members were assigned specific roles, said the police. Zuber was the driver while Shahid withdrew money from ATM booths using the victim’s debit cards. Islam and Iqbal used to attack the passengers first and Zafru used to beat them up mercilessly if they did not reveal the passwords. The five accused claimed to have withdrawn Rs 5 lakh from their victims’ accounts.