With the arrest of four persons, Delhi Police today claimed to have busted an inter-state robbery gang - whose kingpin was also allegedly involved in the murder of an engineer at Noida last week - which was active in Delhi-NCR, western UP and even Kerala.
The four members of the gang arrested so far have been identified as Mohammed Mehfooz, Mohammed Abid, Yasir Hasan and Haji Nasiruddin, said DCP (East) Bhairon Singh Gurjar.
Mehfooz, who is the kingpin of the gang, along with his associate, Mintoo, had allegedly shot dead Sachin Sangwan, an engineer from Rohtak, and shot at his brother, Tarun, when they resisted a robbery bid. Sachin and Tarun were in their car and did not stop when the robbers waylaid them in Sector 24 Noida, said a police official.
Noida police had also announced a reward of Rs one lakh on Mehfooz's arrest.
The police recovered a KTM RC 390 motorbike, priced over Rs two lakh in India, from the gang's possession. The bike later emerged to be stolen from west Delhi's Moti Nagar area.
The gang allegedly used to steal motorbikes before going out for a robbery spree.
Other recoveries include a Karizma motorbike, two pistols and several cartridges, said the official.
Meanwhile, Haji Nasiruddin, who is allegedly the receiver of robbed items in connection with this particular syndicate, turned out to be a key member of several inter-state robbery gangs. "He was earlier arrested by Kerala Police after a search operation in Delhi and around two kg gold was recovered from his possession," said Gurjar.
According to the police, the gang earlier used to start from east Delhi and allegedly go on robbing people in Indirapuram at Ghaziabad, before heading towards Sectors 62 and 18 in Noida, and then return to Delhi.
After Sangwan's murder, Mehfooz changed the area of operation to Geeta Colony and Pushta Road in east Delhi, said an official privy to the investigation.
While Mehfooz and Abid were arrested from Geeta Colony area yesterday evening, the other two were arrested from Gandhi Nagar area this morning after a brief encounter. Yasir and Nasiruddin allegedly fired two rounds at the police team chasing them. However, no police official were injured.
