Robbers hold techie hostage in car, drive around for 3 hrs, withdraw 75K using his ATM card

The victim boarded the car at Meerut crossing in Ghaziabad to travel to Meerut. He said when he boarded the car with three persons already seated inside.

A 34-year-old software engineer working with a Noida-based company in Sector 62 was allegedly robbed by three armed men after they offered him a lift to Meerut in their car on Wednesday night. According to the victim, the criminals drove him around for over three hours before withdrawing about Rs 75,000 using his ATM cards, and then dumped him at Indirapuram.

Police officials said they are scanning all the CCTV footage along the route where the victim was driven around and also working to trace the suspects involved in the incident. (HT File / Representative Photo)

An FIR against unidentified suspects was lodged at Sihani Gate police station on Thursday morning, police said.

The victim was identified as Ankur Verma, a resident of Old Mohanpuri in Meerut. He boarded the car at Meerut crossing in Ghaziabad to travel to Meerut. He said it was around 8.30pm when he boarded the car with three persons already seated inside.

“They drove me on the Raj Nagar Extension flyover and after some time turned towards village areas. They tied my hands and pointed a gun at me. They pulled out Rs 4,500 cash from my wallet and also took out my ATM cards. Then they went to an ATM kiosk and withdrew about Rs 75,000 using my cards. When one of the cards did not work as I could not remember the PIN correctly, they beat me up and drove further,” Verma said.

He said that he was driven around in Ghaziabad till about 12 midnight and dumped at Kanawani in Indirapuram.

“They also took my mobile phone and scanned through my family’s pictures. Then one of them told the others to leave me, while another wanted to shoot me else I could pose problems for them. However, the third person hit something on my head and I fell unconscious. Then they dumped me at Kanawani where I regained conscious with some locals standing by my side. They later called up police,” Verma said.

The victim said that during his 11 years of service, he never boarded anonymous cars alone to travel. “It was the first time I boarded such an anonymous vehicle alone as I was not feeling well and wanted to reach home early. Generally, I catch a bus everyday,” he added.

An injured Verma was taken by police for immediate medical treatment, and later sent to Sihani Gate police station under whose jurisdiction the incident first happened. The police on the basis of his complaint lodged an FIR around 4am on Thursday under IPC section 392 (robbery) against the suspects, who are stated to be in the age group of 20-25 years.

“We are scanning all the CCTV footage along the route where the victim was driven around. Police teams are also working to trace the suspects involved in the incident. There is a rise in such incidents, and we will soon be making a list of all criminals who have been arrested in connection with similar incidents in the past. They will be put under top 10 and top 20 list of criminals,” Shlok Kumar, superintendent of police (city), said.