Burglars who targeted CP shops plied in cabs
BUSTED Police say the three accused used to book appbased cabs to CP and for their return
NEW DELHI: Raju, Sanjeev and Nandu believed in a comfortable commute to and from work, even if it would mean spending a little more.
They used to book air-conditioned cabs on mobile app cab hailing services, and also took cabs back home, after burgling shops in Connaught Place.
The Raju Gang, named them after their leader, Raju Pannerselvam, 57, is believed to have committed a series of burglaries reported from the Central Delhi’s shopping arcade earlier this month. Other members have been identified as Sanjeev Kumar alias Raja, 48, and Nandu Rawat, 32,
A senior police officer said that the accused Nandan earlier worked as a driver with Ola and had not renewed his permit for more than a year, leading to his disassociation with the company.
An Ola spokesperson, said, “This is an unfortunate incident, however, we would like to clarify that the accused was not on our platform.”
An investigating officer said the first burglary was reported on May 4, when the gang broke into a meat shop, Khub Chand & Bros, during the early hours and fled with ₹60,000 in cash, some raw meat and documents.
Three days later, on May 7, the manager of ‘US Polo Assn’ retail store i n Connaught Place reported a break-in. He said that when he returned to the store in the morning, he found the main gate open and locks broken. “The manager reported ₹3.23 lakh cash and 45 pairs of jeans, 50 shirts, at least 50 pairs of trousers and 40 T-shirts, along with 20 blazers and 10 belts stolen from the shop,” the officer said.
Police said, on May 12, a Raymond showroom was burgled and two pocket pins worth ₹4,500 and one camera worth ₹5,000 were stolen. A Reebok store was targeted on May 14 and ₹30,000 cash, the digital video recorder of the showroom’s CCTV camera, a The gang of three, led by Raju Pannerselvam, is suspected to be behind a series of burglaries in several stores in Central Delhi’s Connaught Place reported earlier this month
Police said the three used to book app-based cabs to commute to Connaught Place early morning and pre-book cabs to return
Police said Nandu used to drive an Ola cab but his vehicle was de-registered after he did not renew it for over an year. Ola also clarified that he was not associated bag and some clothes were stolen.
Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Madhur Verma said during investigation around 20 to 25 clips of footage from CCTVS installed in the inner circle of Connaught Place were analysed and it was seen that in each theft, three men broke into the stores between 3 am and 5 am.
“It was also seen that they used to reach the crime spot in a white hatchback taxi. The car’s registration number ended with 1425. The team obtained a list of all Tata hatchback taxis bearing similar registration number,” said Verma.
From a list of criminals who had been involved in similar crimes, police zeroed in on two with their platform
The police, from analysis of CCTV footage, saw that the accused used to commute by a hatchback car
The police zeroed-in-on vehicles with similar registration number and started looking for the vehicle in CP area
They were nabbed from a car during checking, police said Police said when the trio was not using Nandu’s car, they used to book cabs
They targeted a meat shop, and two apparel stores among other shops in CP
names — Raju and Nandu, who were arrested in with an Innova car in Rohini in 2017. Further probe revealed that Nandu was seen often driving a Tata Indica car as taxi, police said.
“Following the route often taken by the suspects, a special picket was raised at Rajiv Chowk metro station, gate number six. On Sunday, around 4 am, a Tata Indica car was spotted near Janpath traffic signal. The police team intercepted the vehicle and Raju, Sanjeev and Nandu were arrested,” the DCP said.
Verma said when they were not using Nandu’s car, the gang booked app-based cabs to reach the crime spots and then prebooked these cabs to flee.