No checks on NH48 despite lift-and-loot cases
GURUGRAM: On the night of December 8, Gurugram-resident Ahuja, identified only by his last name, was waiting near Iffco Chowk to hitch a ride home when a white-coloured car with a commercial number plate pulled over and offered him a shared ride—a common practice on the Delhi-gurgaon Expressway. But what followed next was something the 23-year-old hadn’t imagined in his wildest dreams. He was hit on the head with a pair of pliers, had a pistol pointed at him and robbed of ₹15,000, before he jumped off the moving car to escape.
At least 14 people have been robbed of valuables and cash— from a few thousand to lakhs of rupees—in a similar fashion since November 2; some were forced to reveal their ATM PINS and had their bank accounts wiped clean. The actual number could be higher as many FIRS are not filed online and the Gurugram Police does not maintain a separate account of such cases.
The Hindustan Times accessed 13 of the 14 FIRS filed in five different police stations of the city and talked to 10 victims, who revealed details of the systematic and strikingly similar way in which these gangs operate.
In most cases, the modulus of operandi was the same—gang offers a shared ride to men waiting along NH48, mostly on their way back to Delhi after work. Instead of going to Delhi, the gang takes a U-turn after Shankar Chowk or Rajokri flyover. They would drive around for two to four hours in Gurugram; threaten the victim at gunpoint or knifepoint and rob him of cash and valuables.
All the 10 victims said that while the accused drove around in the car for hours, they did not run into a single police checkpoint, where the cab could have been stopped and checked.
The city has several checkpoints along its inter-state and inter-city borders, but none on the Rajiv Chowk-shankar Chowk route or the Rajiv Chowk-sohna Road route—the only two escape routes taken by these gangs.
Around 9pm on Saturday, the HT Team travelled along these routes and found that even after 14 cases of lift-and-loot, the police were yet to set up any checkpoints on these routes.
“We have decided to put up boards in Rajiv Chowk, Iffco Chowk, Shankar Chowk and other junctions, urging people to not take shared rides,” assistant commissioner of police (crime) Shamsher Singh said responding to why has the police not acted in the past month-and-ahalf.
He, however, did not give a deadline for when these boards would be erected.
Singh added that multiple teams from the crime investigation agency (CIA) of the city police were probing the cases and had been told to identify and arrest the accused on priority.
Meanwhile, Ahuja, who got away with three stitches on his head from being repeatedly hit with pliers, is recovering in his hometown of Sonipat. He has sworn off shared rides even though Gurugram has no public means of transport connecting most fringe areas with the city centre.
CASE SIMILARITIES
An analysis of the FIRS showed that in most cases, the car was white in colour, was either a Swift Dzire or an Eeco. All people who fell victim were men of varying ages, with most being Delhi residents waiting at Rajiv Chowk, Iffco Chowk, Shanker Chowk and Atlas Chowk—the most-targeted junctions— to go home.
In 11 of the 14 cases, four people were already in the car when the victim boarded the vehicle. But one of the most striking similarities was how the accused always made the victim sit in the middle to prevent him from escaping.
“When I boarded the cab from Atlas Chowk, I was sitting by the window. A little later, the man sitting next to me, who was chewing tobacco, said that he will have to spit from time to time and requested me to move to the middle of the back seat,” said Rahul Gupta, 33, who was robbed of ₹66,000 on December 3.
All 10 victims, except one, said that they were robbed at gunpoint or knifepoint.
POLICE ACTION
With most cases being reported from the city’s biggest and most well-equipped junctions, the police have been able to get their hands on the CCTV grab of one accused, whom many victims have identified as one of their assailants. However, the police are yet to identify him, and thus the gang he works with.
Police have also deployed mufti-clad officers at different locations to nab the accused.
“We have increased patrolling along Rajiv Chowk. In the meantime, we urge people not to take shared rides,” Civil Lines station house officer Chander Prakash.
Police are yet to make an arrest in all the 14 cases between November 2 and December 16.