A taxi driver, along with three of his accomplices, was arrested for allegedly robbing a businessman of cash and gold a few days back in Northwest Delhi, police said on Thursday.
The four masked men, Kamal Raj, 22; Ashok Kumar, 26; Surat, 22; and Rocky, 26, armed with three country-made pistols, allegedly held Jatinder Singh hostage with his teenage son and their maid at his residence and fled with Rs 1.5 lakh in cash and two gold bangles on Sunday morning.
Following the incident, Jatinder informed the police by lodging a complaint at the Mukherjee Nagar police station around 11:30 am, stating that he was robbed at gunpoint.
He, in his complaint, recounted the incident, saying, “I was asked to stay put or risk losing my life. One of those men went to the room where the valuables were stored and retrieved the items. They then fled the house.”
According to the police, Kamal had contacted Ashok Kumar, a wrestler, who had given lessons to Singh’s family, to find out where the businessman had hidden the valuables in the house.
“Kumar was doing the recce of Singh’s house and had informed Kamal about the cash and jewels in his house. But they were not proceeding with the plan, as they were working on an escape strategy,” a police officer said.
During investigation, the car used in the crime was traced to Delhi’s Cant and Hauz Khas, and the suspects were arrested from the MIS Unit area on Tuesday, the officer stated.
Kamal told the police that he had been operating his brother’s taxi for the past six months.
“He acquired the number plate in January and decided to use it for the robbery. The accused spent the amount on luxuries, but the bangles have been recovered,” a police official said.
Singh ran his store in Lala Lajpat Rai Market in Northwest Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar, the police said.