Victim’s cousin among four held for Rs 40 lakh armed robbery in Delhi

New Delhi, Sep 17 (IANS) Four persons, including two women, have been arrested for robbing a couple at a gunpoint in their house in the national capital, a Delhi Police official said.

The accused were identified as Rajender Kumar a.k.a Bittoo, Mukesh Kumar, Rachna,  and Deepa.

The official said that Rachna, a cousin of the victim, was the key conspirator behind the crime. 

A manhunt is going on to nab two other absconding accused - Deepak and Ashu Balyan.

Police have also recovered Rs 24 lakh cash, gold jewellery and a country-made pistol along with two bullets from the accused.

According to the police, a complaint was received about the robbery that occurred around 8.15 a.m. on Monday in the Jagatpuri police station area.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Shahdara, Rohit Meena said that the complainant said that as he returned home after dropping his son at school, three individuals accosted him the ground floor parking area, forcibly restrained him, and took him at gunpoint to his fourth floor flat. 

Once inside, the three accused tied up the complainant and his wife and fled with approximately Rs 40 lakh cash and around 35-40 tolas of gold jewellery.

During the investigation, the police examined CCTV footage and tracked the suspects' route. They discovered that the three men, including one woman, arrived on scooters.

"Ownership of both scooters was traced, leading to potential suspects. After a thorough investigation, the team narrowed it down to two suspects," the DCP said.

Further analysis of the call detail records of the suspects' mobile numbers led to the arrest of accused Rajender Kumar, and a homemade pistol with two live cartridges and a stolen purse containing the complainant's Aadhaar card were found in his house.

Subsequent investigation revealed that after the robbery, Deepak gave Rs 5 lakh to his uncle Naveen Kumar, and this was subsequently recovered from him.

In addition, scrutiny of the call details of the accused and their relatives showed that they had received messages from Muthoot Finance.

"This led to the identification of a suspect named Deepa, wife of Mukesh Kumar, who had deposited the stolen gold in Muthoot Finance. A raid on her house in Ghaziabad resulted in the recovery of 210 grams of stolen gold jewellery." the DCP said.

“Further investigation uncovered that a substantial amount of cash had been deposited in the account of Mukesh Kumar, the father of co-accused Balyan. He was also arrested, and Rs 2,50,000 was seized from him,” said the DCP.

Efforts were made to locate and apprehend co-accused Deepak, Balyan, and Rachna, but they were all evading arrest.

"Subsequent investigation also led to the arrest of Rachna, who, during her police custody remand, revealed that she is a relative of the complainant and had inside knowledge of the cash and jewellery in the complainant's house.

“She actively conspired with her partner Deepak and Deepak's brother-in-law, Balyan, as well as Rajender Singh. According to her confession, Rachna lured them to the complainant's house, remaining outside on the street while sending the other three armed men to commit the robbery," the DCP said.

"Non-bailable warrants (NBWs) are being issued for co-accused individuals Deepak and Ashu Balyan, and efforts are ongoing to locate and arrest them," he added.