Panipat: Nine of robbers’ gang in police net

Panipat, February 29

The police have arrested nine members of a gang for their alleged involvement in kidnapping, robbery and dacoity incidents.

In one case, the gang members had allegedly kidnapped an arhtiya at gunpoint from Hanuman Chowk and demanded an extortion amount of Rs 2 crore from him.

Inspector Deepak Kumar, in charge, CIA-1, said the accused were identified as Praveen of Sewah, Pramod of Pasina Kalan, Sandeep of Ahar, Deepak of Ghilor Kalan in Rohtak, Sonu of Manana, Vishal of Sheharmalpur and Vikas of Madlauda, Gulbahar alias Gulab of Hathwala and Ajay of Manana village.

Cops said they received a tip-off that seven miscreants, in a Brezza vehicle standing near the stadium on the Chautala road, were planning to commit some crime.

Following this, the team raided the spot and nabbed the seven youths — Praveen, Pramod, Sandeep, Deepak, Sonu, Vishal and Vikas.

During preliminary investigation, the accused confessed to kidnapping arhtiya Lalit Arora from the Hanuman chowk near a vegetable market on February 26 and demanding an extortion of Rs 2 crore from him.

The CIA team also arrested two other members of the gang – Gulbahar and Ajay — from near the Dahar roundabout. The kingpin of the gang was Praveen of Sewah village and was running a dhaba near the Gohana bypass, inspector Deepak Kumar added.

Praveen had 15 criminal cases registered against him. He, along with his associates, was involved in a robbery of Rs 10 lakh from Punjab National Bank in 2008. He was also involved in a bid to loot a bank by making a cave, he said. The accused was released on bail in 2014 after spending six years in jail.