5 held for robberies on national highways

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested five men who are allegedly involved in a number of robberies reported from north India’s national highways. Police said the gang used to target vehicles loaded with goods on the highways around Delhi-ncr and rob the driver of the vehicle at gunpoint.

The five men were identified as Kishan alias Lakha (45), Kuldeep Ragha (24), Aman alias Sukha (25), Aakash Rathor(25) and Karan (25).

Police said 50 mobile phones and more than two dozen household items such as watches, music systems, books, lights and jewellery were recovered from their possession.

Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Madhur Verma said in June this year, a complaint was received from one Faizan Hussain, who hails from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, reporting robbery of his consignment worth lakhs. “The complainant had told police that he was a resident of Delhi’s Bijwasan area and was driving his brother’s truck in collaboration with a shopping website when the incident took place. He said that on June 26, around 4 am, when he was driving from Manesar to deliver a consignment of the eshopping site to Karol Bagh, a black Santro car intercepted his truck,” the DCP said.

He said two persons got out of the car and forcibly snatched Hussain’s truck keys at gunpoint. The complainant said the men then sped away with the truck.

“Police teams checked CCTV footage from border areas and exit routes. Also, all the packaging and loading staff members of the online shopping website at Manesar were questioned. A list of consignments loaded in the robbed vehicle was obtained from the company and on Sunday, Kishan alias Lakha was arrested after we received a tipoff. Later, on his disclosure, Kuldeep, Aman, Aakash and Karan were also arrested,” Verma said.