After brief encounter, gang of robbers busted in Greater Noida

GREATER NOIDA: Following a brief encounter, the Gautam Buddh Nagar police have busted a gang of robbers who have committed around 39 robberies in various parts of the district as they rob passerby with jewelleries and other valuables on gun point.

Police have arrested three members of the along with two jewellers to whom they used to sell the stolen jewelleries. Cops said that the gang had been active in the district from more than past four years.

According to police, the arrested gang members were identified as Sonu Yadav (27) and Monu Yadav (22), natives of district Agra and currently lived at a high rise society in sector 74 of Noida, Omveer Bhati (35) a native of Salarpur village of Noida and two jewellers who were identified as Monu from Salarpur village and Vikas from village Shahpur in sector 128 of Noida.

Police officials said that the arrest was made after a brief exchange of fire in sector 144 area under Surajpur police station in Greater Noida on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.

"Sonu Yadav and Omveer Bhati sustained bullet injuries during the gunfight while a Sub-inspector of UP police was also injured during cross firing," said police officials.

Vaibhav Krishna, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Gautam Buddh Nagar told reporters that the gang used to commit robbery by stolen cars while they target passerby in the daytime as traffic flow remains less and they easily escape the crime spot.

"The gang was active in the district since 2015 and have committed around 39 robberies. Upon interrogating them, they told police that they had stolen a Red Santro car in August 2015 from expressway police station area and committed 20 robberies from the car. They further used this Red Santro car to loot a Grey i10 car in 2018 from the same area and then committed around 12 robberies from the i10 car. Further in January 2019, the gang used Grey i10 car to loot Blue Baleno car from sector 39 area and committed 7 robberies by baleno car," said Krishna.

Discussing Modus Operandi, the officer further said that the gang used to target passerby, mostly males, as they feel that the jewelleries they wear are not artificial.

"The gang mostly target men as they feel that their jewelleries are not artificial. They used to commit robbery in the day time as the traffic flow remains less and they can easily flee the crime spot" added Krishna.

Informing on the role of jewellers in the crime, Krishna said that the robbers used the sell the stolen ornaments to the arrested jewellers against 30 per cent commission while the rest of the amount was paid to the criminals by these jewellers.

Meanwhile,to encourage the police officials, DGP Uttar Pradesh has declared a reward of Rs 50, 000 on the team who have made the arrest while DG commendation disc will be awarded to Circle Officer-2 Peeyush Kumar, Circle Officer-1 Shwetabh Pandey and SI Patneesh Singh for their efforts.