Five members of a dreaded auto gang, which have allegedly been involved in more than 100 cases of loot including two recent incidents of robbing and physically assaulting a doctor and a DU student from Indirapuram, were arrested by Ghaziabad police on Monday night after a gunfight.
On Monday night, a woman returning from her office in Noida’s Sector 62 was allegedly abducted, robbed and harassed on gunpoint immediately after she boarded the autorickshaw. She was later pushed out near DPS School in Vijaynagar. She immediately called the police emergency number.
After an exchange of fire between the police and gang, five members were arrested. One gang member also got injured during the clash.
In a separate incident, Indirapuram police arrested three members of the same auto gang from Vaishali Sector 1 on Tuesday afternoon.
The police have recovered 29 high-end smartphones, a Swift Dezire car, an autorickshaw and heavy amount of artillery from them.
The gang, says the police, has been involved in over 25 incidents of loot and molestation of women in the past. Last month, the gang had allegedly robbed and molested a 30-year-old woman doctor who is a resident of Mahagun Puram society.
The gang had also robbed and physically abused a student of Delhi University who is a resident of Shipra Sun City.
Police have identified the criminals as Kasim, Salman and Monu alias Sarvar. While Kasim and Salman live in Ghaziabad, Monu belongs to Hapur. The police said that they used to work in an auto garage in Indirapuram.
The gang had a particular modus operandi, said the police. “They operated in a group of five. To not alert woman commuters, autorickshaw journey usually started with two members already seated pretending to be passengers. After a while, other two members of the gang joined the rickshaw as passengers. Once the autorickshaw reached a dark or secluded area, they robbed the victim at gunpoint,” a police official explained.
Police also said that the gang used stolen autorickshaws in the incidents. "They used to change license plate after each incident to skip surveillance,” the official said.
According to police, the gang used to function in areas near Anand Vihar border, Kaushambi, Vaishali, Lal Kuan in Ghaziabad and Sector 62 in Noida.
