Four men, including a journalist, have been arrested for robbing a taxi at knifepoint and then using the vehicle to commit several robberies in the Capital, police said on Monday.

The accused have been identified as Satbir Singh, 27, Rakesh Jha, 35, Narinder, 24, and Rajinder, 21. Satbir, who hails from Haryana’s Sonipat district, claims to be a reporter with Rohini-based newspaper Bharat Surkhiya.

“They were held over a complaint by taxi driver Shiv Dayal,” said Ravindra Yadav, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime). The 40-year-old owns the taxi and is associated with ‘For Sure Cab Company’ in Kashmere Gate.

On March 3, Shiv had received a message from the company that his taxi had been booked from Kashmere Gate to Karnal.

Accordingly, he reached Kashmere Gate where the four accused boarded the taxi.
On the way to Karnal, they insisted on taking the taxi towards Naya Baans area of outer Delhi’s Shahbad Dairy.

On the way, they forced Shiv to stop the vehicle at knifepoint. Shiv was then dumped at an isolated area after which the four men fled with the vehicle. They also took Shiv’s mobile phone and Rs 12,000 in cash.

“After robbing the taxi, the accused removed the GPRS system installed in the vehicle so that they could not be located,” Yadav added.

On March 8, police received a secret input that the accused would assemble near Khajoori Khas in the robbed taxi to commit another crime.

Immediately, a police team laid a trap at the expected place and at the instance of the informer, the accused were apprehended.

During interrogation, Satbir confessed to be the mastermind and said they had committed some robberies using the taxi.