Four men have been arrested for allegedly staging a highway robbery in northeast Delhi in which copper scrap worth around Rs 55 lakh was stolen, police said on Saturday.
The truck driver, Manish Kumar, who claimed that the robbers sedated him and robbed his vehicle of the coper scrap it was carrying has been identified as an accomplice in the crime and is among those arrested.
Kumar planned the staged robbery along with his friend Aditya and a local junk dealer Arun Soni, and another associate Ramzan, police said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Harsh Indora said a case has been registered at New Usmanpur police station on September 10 under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita after a complaint was lodged by Kumar.
“Kumar claimed that on September 9, while transporting copper scrap from Libaspur to Madoli, his vehicle was intercepted near Signature Bridge by men in a car who posed as bank officials,” he said.
He further claimed that the robbers allegedly entered the truck and one of them injected him with a sedative, rendering him unconscious. When he regained consciousness at Jag Pravesh Hospital, the consignment was missing, the DCP added.
“During investigation, a crime branch team analysed more than 200 CCTV camera footage and scrutinised mobile call records. It was found that the complainant was involved in orchestrating the crime,” Indora said.
Upon questioning, the accused truck driver confessed that he, along with three others planned the staged robbery to steal the copper consignment. All four were arrested following technical and field intelligence inputs, police said.
Police recovered the stolen 6000 kg copper scrap, valued at Rs 55 lakh, the truck used in the offence, and the injection and syringe used to fake the robbery.
According to police, Kumar from Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh, is an alcoholic has been dismissed from several jobs and has studied only up to Class I.
Aditya from Bihar’s Chhapra is an unemployed graduate, while Soni, a junk dealer from Kotla Vihar in Delhi, is the alleged mastermind behind the robbery, police said.
Ramzan from Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda is a drug addict and administered the injection to Kumar on Soni’s instructions.
Police said further investigation is underway to identify others possibly involved in the disposal network of the stolen goods.