Highway bandits are getting smarter. A bunch of four robbers used a beacon-fitted high-end multi-utility vehicle to intercept a truck ferrying medicines worth 1.25 crore, and drove away with the consignment on the Kurukshetra highway in Haryana on Saturday evening.
Police recovered the truck and the medicines after nabbing Sanjay Singh, 22, Sandeep, 27, Suresh, 23, and Sonu, 20, all residents of Bhiwani in Haryana, in Sector 20 at Rohini in outer Delhi, Deputy Commissioner of Police B S Jaiswal said.
“We recovered the looted medicines worth Rs 1.25 crore, the truck worth about Rs 25 lakh and an Innova car used by the gang to commit the armed robbery,” said Jaiswal.
During interrogation, the members of gang told the police they, along with their absconding associates Pawan Saini, Satish, Rajesh and Jangbir, also residents of Bhiwani in Haryana, robbed the truck on the highway and were to share the money equally after selling the medicines.
“On December 9, they followed a vehicle transporting goods and stopped their Innova in front of the truck and hijacked it at Kurukshetra in Haryana. They tied the hands and legs of the driver and his helper and dumped them on the isolated stretch of Badra Road at Hisar in Haryana,” said Jaiswal.
They stored the medicine near Ghevra More in outer Delhi and hid the truck in Burari. Police recovered the truck on December 13.
“On a tip-off that the gang — in the process of transporting the medicines to dispose them of in Haryana — would pass through Sector 20 at Rohini, a trap was laid and the four men were arrested. We are also trying to ascertain their criminal antecedents. A hunt is on to nab the four absconding members of the gang,” added Jaiswal.
The medicines belonged to Lupin company and were being transported from Baddi in Himachal Pradesh to Nagpur.
Woman crushed to death
A woman and her 13-year-old granddaughter died on the spot when a speeding Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus ran over them at the Aruna Asaf Ali Road in central Delhi on Sunday.
Krishna, 56, her son Rakesh Bharti, granddaughter Alice Bharti and a cousin Muskan, all residents of Daryaganj, were on their way to a relative’s house at Kali Masjid when the accident occurred.
Rakesh Bharti, the girl’s father, told the police that he had already crossed the road and was waiting for his family on the other side.
“I crossed the road to buy some items. They were walking along the road when the DTC bus ran them over,” said Rakesh Bharti.
“Krishna and Alice were near the pavement when the speeding DTC bus ran over them around 12.15 pm. They died on the spot. Muskan was injured,” said a senior police officer. Muskan is recuperating in hospital.
Alice’s uncle Deen Dayal said a trainee driver was behind the steering wheel and he appeared drunk. “The professional driver was sitting beside him. The bus rammed into a rickshaw and then ran over Krishna and Alice.”
Police said the driver, Amar Singh, 38, was arrested under Section 279 (rash driving) and section 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code.
Police sent Singh for a medical examination and denied he had consumed alcohol on duty.
DH News Service