Six members of a gang involved in a number of bus robberies in west Delhi’s Rajouri Garden area and nearby places were arrested by police on Thursday.
The arrested also include Victor James, the kingpin of the gang.
The arrests are the result of a strategy formulated by the police officials in the wake of increasing robberies in buses around the area of Rajouri Garden.
According to the plan, teams of policemen started intensive checking of buses on Ring Road, especially in front of ESI hospital, from where incidents of chain snatching and robberies at knifepoint were reported.
“During one of the checks, a police team spotted two autorickshaws, oddly following a bus,” said a police officer.
The team chased the autos and asked the drivers to stop for checking.
“On their search, two knives, three mobile phones and two laptops, which were later found to be stolen, were recovered by police. The suspects were then detained and taken to police station for questioning,” he added.
During their sustained interrogation, the six accused disclosed that they used to operate from Punjabi Bagh flyover to Maya Puri in autorickshaws. They would start chasing a bus right from Punjabi Bagh flyover and when the bus haltedc at the stop, they would rob the passengers of their bags, mobile phones, purses and laptops, police said.
They also revealed that they would injure passengers who dared resist them with their knives.
A further investigation is on, and police are trying to recover robbed items. Police are also questioning them to find out if more accomplices were involved.
The arrested are Victor James, 44, Mohmmad Ishtiyaq, 27, Samim, 40, Sumit, 26, Raj Kumar, 36, and Laxman, 29.
Victor James is kingpin of the gang, and is involved in 15 previous crimes under Arms Act, snatching, theft, etc.
