Two involved in Rs 1.5 crore heist arrested, traders call off strike

Two men have been arrested for a Rs 1.5-crore robbery from a dry-fruit merchant in north Delhi’s Lahori Gate over a week ago. Of the entire robbed sum, Rs 32 lakh has been recovered.

The traders in the area had gone on a strike after the robbery, demanding quick arrest of the persons involved. Police said they called off their strike on Thursday after learning about the breakthrough.

Of the two persons arrested, only one was directly involved in the robbery. The other nabbed suspect was in possession of a portion of the robbed money, police said. At least three other persons involved in the robbery have been identified, but are yet to be caught.

Police have learnt that the robbed booty was divided into seven parts, with each person’s share being about Rs 20 lakh. That bit of information has led to police suspecting that there were seven persons involved in the robbery.

However, the possibility of the alleged mastermind Manish keeping two or more parts of the booty for himself while lying to other accomplices has not been ruled out.

The robbery had taken place at the two-floor office of dry-fruit wholesale commission agent Gaurav Rathi on December 9. Four armed men had sneaked into the second floor of the office and made away with the cash after tying up Rathi and his colleagues.

Police said they were initially clueless and had formed multiple teams to crack the case. The tip-off about some of those involved in the robbery was received on Wednesday.

A trap was laid in east Delhi’s Nand Nagri area and Roop Singh and Vinod were arrested. Rs 12.5 lakh and Rs 19.5 lakh respectively were recovered from them.

Based on the interrogation of Roop and Vinod, police said the planning began on December 1 when some of these robbers planned to commit a big heist.

“They had lost money in gambling and betting during IPL and were in debt. They also sought to live a good lifestyle for which they planned to rob a merchant in the Tilak Bazar market,” said the officer.

The robbers used Metro to commute for the recce. However, they had arrived on motorcycles on the day of the crime as they needed to carry back large amount of cash after the heist.