‘Shock and loot’ gang busted in Delhi, jewellery, 15 lakh cash seized | Latest News Delhi - Hindustan Times
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‘Shock and loot’ gang busted in Delhi, jewellery, 15 lakh cash seized

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By
Jul 30, 2019 04:32 AM IST

The gang robbed people after giving them shocks with an electronic torch like item.

Over Rs15 lakh cash, jewellery worth Rs 5 lakh and 20 wrist watches were recovered from three members of a gang which, according to police, robbed people after giving them electric shock “using an electric torch”.

The gang robbed people after giving them electric shock “using an electric torch”.(REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)
The gang robbed people after giving them electric shock “using an electric torch”.(REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

The arrested persons included the 35-year-old kingpin of the gang, Prince Vinod from west Delhi’s Inderpuri. A majority of the watches and jewellery were recovered from Vinod’s house. Police said Vinod has told them that he had been accumulating the stolen jewellery to give them as “dowry in the wedding of his 13-year-old daughter”. His fellow robbers were identified as Pradeep Mantosh,22, from south Delhi’s Dakshinpuri, and Kanak Ratnam,39, from Madangir.

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Deputy commissioner of police (central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa said the accused were initially members of the notorious ‘Thak-Thak’ gang. But after they were busted, some members started robbing people, mostly pedestrians carrying cash in their bags, using different methods.

“The gang devised a new way in which they used an electric torch (which looked like a cigarette lighter) to give electric shock to the victims and immobilise them for a while so that they can be robbed of all the valuables on their person,” said DCP Randhawa, adding that they are looking for another member of the gang, who is in the possession of the electric torch.

“The trio has confessed to their involvement in over a dozen such crimes in Delhi and other states using the same method. We are trying to establish their involvement,” said the DCP.

Randhawa said the arrests came following investigation into a robbery case in which an accountant of a pharmaceutical company was robbed of his bag containing Rs. 21.69 lakh from central Delhi’s Kamla Market on July 12. The complainant, Ram Mohan, told the police that he was returning to his office in Chandni Chowk after collecting money from Karol Bagh.

“Mohan was travelling in an auto rickshaw. When his auto stopped at a traffic signal in Kamla Market area, a man wearing helmet walked close to the auto and immobilised him by touching his body with an object that gave him an electric shock. By the time, Mohan came to his senses, the suspect had fled on a black motorbike with his cash bag,” said the DCP.

During the scanning of CCTV footage from 70 CCTV cameras installed around the crime scene, the police noticed a newly launched bike following the auto. “We found that around 200 such bike were registered in Delhi since its launch in January. Their ownerships were verified and one such bike was found registered in the name of Prince Vinod, who had a criminal past. Vinod was arrested on Saturday and his interrogation led to the arrest of the other two on Sunday,” said a police officer associated with the operation.

Apart from Delhi, the gang has reportedly confessed to have committed similar crimes in Mumbai, Indore, Surat, Ahmedabad and Jaipur, the police said.

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