Noida: BSc student who robbed women in police net

NOIDA: He was sent by his parents to Agra to study B.Sc but in his desire to become a businessman, he ended up carrying out a dozen loots across Noida. The 23-year-old would cover his face with his red-black Steelbird helmet during a robbery, and conceal the number plate of his stolen yellow Apache bike to evade arrest. On Tuesday, the law finally caught up with him.
Abhishek Ojha, a student at a private college under the Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Agra, allegedly operated in the busy areas of Sector 20 and 39 police station areas and targeted women — many of them on their way to work — either walking alone or travelling in a rickshaw.He was arrested after a tipoff around 5.45pm on Tuesday from near Fortune Hotel in Sector 27.
Apart from Rs 5,500 cash, police found 10 stolen gold chains — five from his jacket and another five from a Tata Zest car. An iPhone, which he allegedly looted from a woman in Sector 26, was also recovered from him.
Cops also found a burner, an earthen lamp and 10 gram of boric acid. Sector 20 SHO Rajveer Chauhan said Ojha would burn the gold chains using the lamp and after melting the gold using boric acid, he would sell it to jewellers.
“He learnt his modus operandi after watching YouTube videos and would melt the gold to avoid unnecessary questions from any jeweller,” sub-inspector Ashok Kumar said, adding that Ojha was active in sectors 1, 19, 27, 26, 41 and 12.
According to police, Ojha wanted to open a business of sale and purchase of cars and was collecting money for this purpose. He had managed Rs 5 lakhs by looting chains alone.
“He would use his own bike with a genuine number plate but before carrying out the loot, he would paste a tape on the number plate so as to avoid getting caught in CCTV or identification by police,” he said. However, to avoid any suspicion, Ojha used to keep all the relevant documents of the bike (UP80EU5972) with him. A police officer said he owned a costly helmet which would ensure that his face would not be visible to others.
An FIR under IPC sections 414 (assisting in concealment of stolen property) has been lodged against Ojha at Sector 20 police station. Police said section 392 (punishment for robbery) will be added as he has been involved in multiple cases.