Delhi man fails to pay loan interest due to lockdown, robs his lender

New Delhi, July 28

A 31-year-old man and his accomplices hit a businessman’s home in west Delhi to steal the property documents he had kept with him as security for Rs 25-lakh loan as he could not pay the interest since the lockdown in March, police said Tuesday.

Manpreet, who worked as a ‘munshi’ for an advocate, had taken the loan two years ago and had been paying regular interest on the principal amount. But after the lockdown began, he failed to pay the monthly interest of Rs 75,000, police said.

They said the robbery happened Saturday afternoon, and they arrested Manpreet and his seven accomplices on Monday night. Efforts are on to arrest another two members of the gang—a woman and a professional wrestler—who are on the run.

According to police, Manpreet had cracked a deal with Praveen, whom he had met while working for the advocate, for Rs 10 lakh to get him his property papers from the businessman. He paid an initial amount of Rs 35,000 to Praveen to execute the robbery.

Four men armed with pistols and knives trespassed into the businessman’s home in Vikaspuri with the help of a woman and thrashed him and his female domestic help.

The robbers tied them, looted property documents and a gold chain before fleeing away with the help of their associates waiting outside on the street in two cars. One of the robbers also looted a motorcycle from a passerby at gun-point during the escape.

Manpreet stood outside and did not enter the house during the robbery, police said.

Deepak Purohit, deputy commissioner of police (west), said they raided over 30 locations and analysed call records and CCTV footage of places around the robbery site.

The investigation revealed that Manpreet had taken Rs 25 lakh as loan two years ago. But he failed to pay the interest due to lockdown and decided to rob his property documents so that the lender could not have any proof to claim his money, Purohit said.

Police identified the gang members as Praveen (42), who arranged the manpower to pull the robbery, and Rajbir (40), Vivek (19), Arun Kumar (24), Mahesh Kumar (32), Arvind Kumar (36) and Vicky (28).

Police have recovered the robbed items and the vehicles used during the robbery. PTI