Four young men who allegedly robbed a jeweller of Rs.1.55 crore in cash at Ashok Vihar here this past December have been arrested by the Special Staff of North-West Delhi.
While the police claim to have recovered Rs.1.25 crore and four vehicles from them, a hunt has been launched for the alleged mastermind.
The jeweller and his daughter-in-law were keeping the bags containing cash inside their car for depositing them in a bank on December 16 morning when the motorcycle-borne robbers struck. At gunpoint, they took away the cash.
While efforts were on to identify the assailants, the Special Staff received a tip-off about two men Harshit Prabhakar and Jitesh Gogia, residents of Subhadra Colony in Sarai Rohilla, had suddenly acquired huge wealth and had been spending lavishly. Suspecting their involvement in criminal activities, the police zeroed in on them.
Investigations revealed that Harshit and his three friends were in Ashok Vihar the day the jeweller was robbed of the cash. Subsequently the police detained Harshit, Vikas Aggarwal and Praveen Goyal for questioning. During interrogation, they allegedly confessed to their involvement in the robbery. The accused disclosed that they had been tipped off about the jeweller through one Jitesh, who got the victim’s address through his girl friend working in a bank. At their instance, the police claim to have recovered Rs.1.25 crore. Jitesh was also arrested on Monday.
According to the police, the accused conducted a reconnaissance on the jeweller’s daily movement for about a fortnight before striking. The alleged mastermind Deepak Gogia and Vikas were on two motorcycles, while Praveen and Harshit took their positions outside the victim’s house.
When the jeweller and his daughter-in-law were keeping the bags in the car, Praveen allegedly whipped out a pistol and robbed them of the bags. The accused regrouped at Rama Vihar and distributed the loot.
According to the police, Vikas belongs to a well-to-do family and earlier worked as an accountant. He started a real estate business in 2008 and became friends with Deepak seven years ago. Praveen is a school dropout and worked as an agent in a firm where Deepak was also working. In April last year, Deepak opened a restaurant named Hungry near Satyawati College. Praveen started working there at the cash counter. The police said Harshit also comes from a sound economic background. Efforts are on to trace Deepak.
