Ex-soldier, known as ‘Robinhood’, nabbed for ATM frauds

NEW DELHI: An ex-serviceman popularly known as “Robinhood,” in his village in Rajasthan, was arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly cheating people by swapping their ATM cards, officials said on Thursday.

According to the police, the accused, Rajender Kumar Meena, was previously arrested in a similar case.

He has served in the Indian army for 18 years.

“He used to install some instruments in the ATM machine and wait for the target at the kiosk. Whenever any customer came to withdraw money, their transaction was declined.

“Later, Meena would offer to help and swap their ATM card with another card and withdraw money from the victim’s account,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police

(central) M Harsha Vardhan said.

With the arrest of Meena, 17 such cases across Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi have been solved. The DCP further added, that, “He was dismissed from the army on allegations of theft and other criminal cases registered against him. The accused has also confessed that the stolen amount was used to help the poor people of his village.”

Meena is famously known as “Robinhood” in his village, Nyorana village, Neem Ka Thana district, Rajasthan. He has spent a lot of money to help the poor, the DCP stated.

The officer further said that Meena was planning to contest for the sarpanch post in Panchayat elections from his village.

“We have recovered 192 ATM cards, Rs 24,000 cash, and one gold earring from him,” he said. The matter came to light on May 5, an incident of cheating was registered at Karol Bagh police station in which the complainant had stated that on April 16 his ATM card was exchanged by some unknown person at a private bank in Gaffar market.

“The cheater had withdrawn Rs 22,000 cash from his account from the ATM of another bank situated at Tank Road Karol Bagh.

An FIR was registered and further investigation was taken up,” said the DCP.

The team checked the movement of the suspects near the place of occurrence and various CCTV footage were examined to trace the accused and his route, he said.

“During analysis of CCTV cameras, the accused was identified as Rajender Kumar Meena aka ATM

and was arrested on May 5 from the Karol Bagh area,” the DCP said.

A total of 26 FIRs were registered against Meena across Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. Further investigation is underway, he added.