Conman drugs, robs Army men

 A 24-year-old man has been arrested for drugging and robbing army men at various railway stations in the capital.

 Bipin Kumar Godwal, who hails from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, was nabbed at  Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station, said additional deputy commissioner of police (railways) B S Gurjar on Thursday.

Godwal did his con act while pretending to be an army man himself. On Wednesday, he approached a jawan, Virendra Singh, at the station and struck up a conversation.

The real soldier told Godwal – who wore an army uniform – that he was catching a train that evening for Chhattisgarh. Godwal said he too was headed for Chhattisgarh. After an hour, he offered to take the jawan to places in the capital where they could have some fun.

The two kept their luggage at the station cloakroom, and Godwal took Singh to the red light district of G B Road. As the jawan went up to the brothel, Godwal waited downstairs, offering to keep an eye on some valuables the soldier had handed over to him.

“When Singh returned Godwal offered him tea, laced with sedatives, from a local vendor. However, Singh noticed something being mixed into it, and gradually emptied out his cup in a drain,” Gurjar said.

“When Singh asked for his belongings, Godwal took him to a park. He excused himself by saying that he was going to the toilet, and disappeared. Singh waited for him for about 10 minutes and when Godwal did not return, he rushed to the station cloakroom,” said Gurjar.

He reached there before Godwal, who apparently planned to take Singh's luggage from the cloakroom. The jawan caught the conman and handed him over to police.

During interrogation, Godwal said he had assumed that Singh would fall unconscious at the park in a little while  from the effect of the drugs – which he thought the jawan had consumed.

“We recovered dozens of identity cards of army personnel from his bag. When we crosschecked with one of the jawans, who narrated a similar incident that took place with him a few month ago at New Delhi railway Station. However, he did not report it at that time. Now, he has also filed a complaint,” said Gurjar.

The accused was produced before a local court on Thursday. “After proper interrogation, we will be able to ascertain how many jawans were drugged and robbed,” said Gurjar.