Two Delhi cops among four held for 9kg gold heist
GHAZIABAD ROBBERY Police said 2 assistant subinspectors waylaid staff of a gold company in uniform and robbed the gold
GHAZIABAD: Two Delhi Police officers were among four people arrested on Thursday for their alleged role in a ₹3-crore gold heist in Ghaziabad on March 18, a top Uttar Pradesh police official said.
The accused officers Satendra Singh and Bhrampal Singh – both assistant sub-inspectors – were allegedly in uniform and carrying holstered official weapons when they waylaid the victims and decamped with nearly nine kgs of gold, Prashant Kumar, additional director general (ADG) of Meerut zone, said.
Police also arrested one Shailendra Yadav, an employee of a Meerut-based jeweller, and driver Ravi Kashyap. Police suspect more people could be involved in the heist.
Yadav had allegedly tipped off the two police officers about the gold consignment being taken from Meerut to Delhi through the Grand Trunk Road by employees of a Mumbai-based company, Union Chains and Jewellers Pvt Ltd.
DCP (East Delhi) Omvir Singh said the two ASIS have been suspended and will face further action on receipt of report from Ghaziabad police.
Serving in different police stations in Ghazipur and Kalyanpuri, the ASIS had taken medical leave to carry out the heist.
“We have recovered nearly 6 kg of gold worth ₹2 crore. Our teams are still working to recover the rest of the gold and also to arrest other members of the gang,” the ADG said.
Several police teams were involved in the investigations and scanned more than 1.5 million mobile call records before zeroing i n on Yadav, who revealed the alleged involvement of the two ASIS, said to be the masterminds of the heist.
According to police officials involved in the investigations, the gang followed the victims, who were travelling in a hired car and had started off around 8pm from Meerut after their business dealings.
The gang used a stolen Maruti Zen car which trailed victims from the Upper Ganga Canal in Murad Nagar and later to the scene of crime in Sahibabad, which is barely 400 metres away from the police station.
The heist was planned nearly a month back when officials of the Mumbai-based company visited Meerut and finalised March 18 as the date for the business deal.
“We will be writing to the Delhi police for further action against the two ASIS. They had also robbed a trader around 10 years back at Ghazipur adopting the same modus operandi. The two have also admitted to their involvement in another heist of ₹20 lakh around 7-8 years back,” the ADG said.