Gurugram cops bust ‘lift and loot’ gang, three arrested

Police on Monday arrested three members of a gang, who used to assault and rob commuters after offering them a lift. They were involved in over eight ‘lift and loot’ incidents since November 11, said police.

The suspects were identified as Ajay Kumar, Sonu alias Langda and Deepanshu Yadav, all residents of Gurugram, police said, adding that they were arrested from Sector 9 and Surya Vihar near Kapashera.

According to police, on November 11, the suspects robbed a 28-year-old executive of a private company of ₹90,000 and his belongings at gunpoint after he was offered lift in a car near Iffco Chowk. He was later thrown out of the car at an isolated stretch near Badshahpur, they said, adding that victim Ajay Bisht is a resident of Faridabad who works at an automobile company in Gurugram.

Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said that police on Monday arrested three members of a cabbie gang. He said that the suspects used to take car on rent and drive the vehicle to rob people.

Police said that the weapon(s) used in the crimes were yet to be recovered.

Sangwan said that all gang members are history sheeters, involved in carjacking, thefts and lift-and-loot incidents. All the suspects are friends and wanted to earn easy money following which they planned to rob commuters by offering them a lift, he said, adding that they used same cab to commit the robberies.

“They used to force victims to reveal their ATM cards’ passwords at gunpoint or knifepoint and withdraw money from their accounts, apart from snatching their mobile phones and other valuables. They never took their laptops, fearing arrest,” Sangwan said.

“The gang had zeroed in on five locations on a 20-km stretch of the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway to look for targets. They mostly picked up victims from Iffco Chowk , Shankar Chowk, Rajiv Chowk and Sector 18,” said Sangwan.

According to police, there is one more gang operating on the expressway. “We have strong leads and the other gangs will also be busted soon. The teams are deployed at suspected locations,” said Sangwan.