Five members of the notorious Baheliya gang were arrested and over ₹6 lakh recovered following an encounter with the Noida police on Thursday, they said.
The gang has been involved in a number of robberies in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The arrests were made at 1.30 a.m. near Cambridge School in Sector 27, a senior police officer said.
The police received a tip-off that the gang would come to Noida for a big robbery. Later, Sector 20 Station House Officer Manoj Kumar Pant and his team intercepted the accused, who were travelling in a vehicle.
Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Pal Sharma said when they signalled them to stop for enquiry, the men inside the vehicle opened fire. An encounter ensued between the two sides, after which the gang members were arrested.
The arrested accused have been identified as Shyam Singh, Kalyan Singh, who are brothers, Rishipal, and Parveen.
They hail from Amroha, while the fifth accused Satte belongs to Bijnor.
Five pistols, 20 bullets, ₹6 lakh in cash, and a gold chain were recovered from their possession on Thursday, while the stolen car they were travelling in has been impounded, Mr. Sharma said.
‘No fixed base’
The accused are members of the Baheliya community and are robbers with no fixed base. They would set up small tents along the roadside and disguised those as ‘ desi davakhana ’, Mr. Sharma said.
“They would stay around 15 days in one place and then move to another. They generally targeted areas where they have some relatives or acquaintances living, who helped them in the recce of their potential targets,” he said.
“The gang members and their accomplices would first recce the target and the locality. They used to commit the robbery at night. They often barged into the houses of the targets and tied up the residents. They even used to thrash them brutally at times,” Mr. Sharma further said.
“They used to carry iron rods and batons along with countrymade pistols with them,” Mr. Sharma said.
The police also said that during the initial probe, the five accused tried to mislead the officers by giving them wrong informations and identities.
After they were questioned further, they admitted to have committed a number of robberies in places such as Haridwar, Noida, Amroha, Bijnor, Moradabad and Ghaziabad, the police said. Cases in various police stations in Gautam Buddh Nagar are already registered against them, the police also said.
A case under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code, including for robbery and attempt to murder, has been lodged against them. They have also been booked under provisions of the Arms Act at Sector 20 police station, the police said.
Mr. Sharma also said that the gang was active in the city over the last fortnight and the police have stepped up vigilance on such roadside dwellers and other anti-social elements.
