4 held for robbing trader at gunpoint in Kashmere Gate

New Delhi: Four men were arrested for allegedly robbing a trader of his scooter and Rs 4.5 lakh cash kept in its boot space in central Delhi’s Kashmere Gate area, police said on Monday.

Several newspaper clips related to how police traced accused using CCTV were also found in their mobile phones. The accused referred to these clips to work out a plan that would help them avoid

being caught on CCTV cameras, they said.

They were deliberately avoiding main roads and kept changing directions to avoid CCTV trail. The accused distributed the money among themselves in an auto-rickshaw at Loni in Ghaziabad and even changed their clothes to dodge CCTV cameras, police said.

The accused have been identified as Mohammad Junaid Qureshi (26), a resident of Noor-e-Ilahi in Bhajanpura, Nadeem (27), a resident of Amroha in UP, Javed Ahmad (27), a resident of Shahjanpur in UP, and Sameer (26), a resident of Ghonda village, they said.

On June 27, complainant Sunil Kumar Jain, who runs a Khoya business at Khoya Mandi, Mori Gate, Kashmere Gate, was on his way home in Bihari Colony, Shahdara on his scooter, police said.

When he reached Yudhisther Setu near ISBT, he pulled up to make an urgent call, they said.

Meanwhile, four people came on a motorcycle and scooter and accosted Jain. One of them took out a pistol and asked him to hand over the money. The complainant tried to resist, but the assailants robbed him of his scooter having Rs 4.5 lakh in the boot space and fled the spot, a senior police officer said.

During investigation, police analysed CCTV footage and found that the accused avoided main roads and took narrow streets to avoid CCTV trails. Later, the accused were identified through a CCTV camera installed at a petrol pump in northeast Delhi, the officer said.

Raids were conducted in Delhi and Hardoi, UP. Javed was apprehended from Hardoi, Samir was apprehended from Loni in Ghaziabad, and Nadeem was nabbed from Mustafabad, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said.

It emerged that co-accused Firoz was hiding in Aligarh whereas gang leader Junaid was on way to Badaun in Uttar Pradesh. Later, Junaid was nabbed from Bulandshahr, the DCP said.

Police also took a CCTV technician along with them during the investigation so that they could get cheked any camera relevant to their investigation without wasting time, they said.

Qureshi was previously involved in four criminal cases, Nadeem in eight, while Ahmad and Sameer had previous involvements in one criminal case each, police said.

According to police, Junaid, Sameer and Nadeem were lodged in a cell in the jail. They hatched conspiracy that they will commit crime in order to earn quick money after being released from jail. Junaid deals in buying mobile phones from service centres and selling their parts in Ghaffar Market. Sameer did his graduation while being in jail. He used to work as a bar tender. He used to purchase cosmetic items from Sadar Bazar and supply them to an e-commerce firm, police said. Nadeem runs a small belt sewing unit in his home, while Javed does polish on the belts and they both knew each other. Javed also drives e-rickshaw in Kashmere Gate, police said.