Ghaziabad robbery: 8 gangs under cops’ scanner

GHAZIABAD: Even after 24 hours of the armed robbery in a house in upscale Kavi Nagar in Ghaziabad where six unidentified accused held a family hostage for over three hours and robbed them of jewellery worth Rs 15 lakh and Rs 1 lakh cash, police are yet to make any arrests.
However, Deepak, who the family had accused to be behind the crime and was absconding, has been nabbed and is being questioned.
Meanwhile, police said that they still don’t have any substantial lead as most of the CCTV cameras in the area, including the one at the victim’s house, are defunct. A senior police officer said that the CCTV cameras installed on Raheem Marg and Razapur Marg are not working properly. “Even the ones at the victim’s house and others some within the 200-m range of the robbery site are not functioning. We could only scan footage of around 10 CCTV cameras and have got no leads yet in the case,” the officer said, adding that preliminary investigation revealed that few gang members had come in a car while some of the accused used motorcycle.
Police said that two footages show the accused decamping with valuables on a bike. However, due to bad quality of the image, they are unable to trace the bike number plate, police said.
The incident had taken place early on Tuesday when robbers entered the house of one Bhopal Sharma, 75, who lives with his wife, daughter and grandchildren.
The armed men had allegedly kept an eight-month-old baby at knifepoint during the entire ordeal that started at 1.30am and continued till 4am.
During investigation, Sharma, who is a farmer, told police that he suspects his deceased son’s brother-in-law Deepak to be behind the crime. Following which, a case was registered against him under section 395 (dacoity) and 397 (robbery or dacoity with an attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code. Sharma also told the police that one of the accused was on phone taking instructions during the entire incident.
Sharma told police that he lost his son Arun and five other members of the family during the 2013 Kedarnath flashfloods and since then Deepak started capturing agricultural land by several means. The family also had to fight a court case for the same.
Police said, “Sharma told us that Deepak had earlier too threatened them with dire consequences if land and the house was not transferred to him. We are questioning Deepak now and will arrest him after proper evidence.”
Ghaziabad SSP Kalanidhi Naithani told TOI that they are investigating the case from all angles and it is too early to say if Deepak was involved in the crime or not. “Based on Sharma’s complaint an FIR has been registered against Deepak and we are questioning him. We are also checking his call details as Sharma had said that one of the accused was taking instructions on the phone and Deepak doesn’t stay with the family. We have also put eight gangs active in Delhi-NCR on our radar. Their modus operandi is the same and we are hopeful of getting some leads soon,” he said.