The East District Police have arrested four allegedly active members of an organised robbery gang accused of targeting unsuspecting passengers outside railway stations and Inter-State Bus Terminals (ISBTs) by offering them shared taxi rides, officials said on Wednesday. The arrests were made by the staff of Patparganj Industrial Area police station, ANI reported.

Source: ANI

The investigation began after a passenger filed a complaint on November 2 alleging he had been robbed after accepting a shared taxi ride outside ISBT Anand Vihar. The victim had been offered a ride to Kapashera Border; shortly after boarding, the driver and two other occupants allegedly robbed him and forced him to transfer Rs 7,000 via UPI. An FIR was registered at Patparganj Industrial Area police station.

Source: Nation Press

According to DCP (East) Rajeev Kumar, the gang allegedly struck again in the same area on November 5. Police laid a trap and, at around 11:45 pm on November 5, arrested three of the accused along with the car allegedly used in the crimes. A fourth accused was arrested during subsequent investigation after the three were questioned.

The four arrested men have been identified by police as Veer Singh (35), a resident of Sambhal; Kishanpal (37), of East Vinod Nagar in Delhi; Vijay alias Monu (40), of Khoda Colony in Ghaziabad; and Vikas alias Kalia (31), of Khora village in Ghaziabad. All four are alleged members of the gang and remain in custody for further questioning.

Police said the arrests have worked out four robbery cases registered at Patparganj Industrial Area police station on June 14, July 18, November 2 and November 6. During questioning, the accused allegedly disclosed involvement in more than a dozen other robbery incidents; police said that alleged involvement is still being verified.