Cops nab 3 suspects 30 mins after robbery

nNEW DELHI: Less than 30 minutes after five men allegedly shot and injured a customer during a robbery bid at a jewellery shop in west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar on Monday evening, three of them were caught after a dramatic, 10km high-speed motorcycle chase by policemen who stopped the getaway car, followed by a shoot-out in Patel Nagar.

The injured customer is undergoing treatment at the hospital and he is out of danger, said deputy commissioner of police (west) Deepak Purohit.

A case of robbery attempt and attempt to murder was registered at the Tilak Nagar police station in connection with the firing incident. More than two dozen police officers were involved in the entire operation that lasted for nearly 25 minutes and was reminiscent of the high-speed adrenaline pumping pursuit seen on screen. Shots were fired by the police and the robbery suspects but nobody was hurt.

The main suspect Sachin Jangra,31, who was driving the i20 getaway car, was caught after a police officer slid his motorcycle to a halt in front of the moving car, forcing it to stop. Two more suspects were overpowered in the shoot-out that followed with DCP Bhatia and his security officer firing one bullet each, police officers present at the spot said.

“The two were identified as Shehzad,21, and Mohammad Anas,22. A fourth suspect, Manish Sharma,22, was arrested from Uttam Nagar after late night raids. He managed to flee during the police chase from Patel Nagar along with Mohammad Nadeem, who is yet to be nabbed,” DCP Sanjay Bhatia said.

Police said the whole incident started around 5.30pm when five men reached a jewellery shop near the Tilak Nagar Metro station and tried to rob it.

Before that, around 4.30pm, they first tried robbing a jewellery store in Avantika, Rohini, about 10km from Tilak Nagar but failed as the jeweller sensed something wrong when all five persons insisted on being allowed inside together. They were turned away by the jeweller who told them that official work was going on inside. He, however, did not alert the police as he didn’t know the men were robbers, said a police officer associated with the matter.

Jangra was disowned by his family a couple of years ago because of his criminal activities, police said. His father runs a jewellery shop in Tilak Nagar itself and Jangra knew some of the jewellers in the area.

“DCP Bhatia and his security officer fired two bullets to scare the suspects who were holed up in a bungalow. As they tried to flee through the rear door while firing once more at the police party, the policemen chased them on foot for nearly 500m and overpowered them. Two firearms with nine cartridges were seized from them,” said assistant commissioner of police (Patel Nagar) Piyush Jain, adding that Jangra was previously involved in three crimes, including two robberies in Dwarka district.