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NEW DELHI: The police arrested two men in their mid-twenties on Sunday evening for their alleged involvement in at least 24 cases of robbery and snatching over the last 14 months. Cash to the tune of Rs 22 lakh was recovered from the duo along with two luxury cars, a stolen motorcycle, two 120gm gold chains and seven other chains, the police said on Monday.
The accused have been identified as Vishal Sharma and Varun Kumar: both are 25 years of age and are residents of Sonepat in Haryana. They were arrested from Mongolpuri by a patrol party. "The two were on a motorcycle and had snatched a chain from a woman. The police team gave chase and nabbed the duo," said DCP (Outer) Chhaya Sharma.
According to the police, the two used to travel in luxury cars fitted with a police siren and red beacon bought with looted money. "They did this in order to avoid police checking at Singhu Border and other areas. They also thought that no auto-lifter would target a car with red beacon. The beacon was brought from Haryana while fake number plates were affixed onto the cars at Patel Nagar," said Sharma.
As part of their modus operandi, the accused used to park their car at the Ramesh Nagar metro station and pick up a Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle already parked there. Thereafter, they used to visit banks, markets and even wedding parties to do a recce on their potential targets before striking at them, the police said.
The two were allegedly involved in some major robberies at Pitampura, Karol Bagh and Prashant Vihar last month. They visited a jeweller in Patel Nagar to re-cast stolen gold as per their choice.
The accused also made money by organizing gambling sessions at Sonepat and Ashok Vihar in Delhi. All bets placed were not less than Rs 5 lakh and a guaranteed share of the money went to them.
They also allegedly constructed two houses at Sector-12 in Sonepat worth crores of rupees with looted money, the police said, adding that their standard of living was quite high.
"The duo had set up an office and claimed to be property dealers, tour operators and financiers, close to several Haryana politicians," said DCP Sharma, adding that the accused are related to each other through their wives who are sisters. The police are now planning to slap MCOCA on the accused and are likely to seize their house documents to ascertain if these were bought with the loot money.