Panipat robbery case cracked, 4 arrested

Panipat, September 3

With the arrest of four persons, the district police have claimed to have solved a case of robbery that occurred at a house in Prakash Nagar here on July 25. The robbers had decamped with Rs 4 lakh in cash and jewellery worth lakhs after taking an elderly woman hostage at gunpoint.

SP Shashank Kumar Sawan said the CIA-1 unit incharge Inspector Rajpal and his team arrested the accused from Sector 18 on Thursday evening.

The mastermind behind the crime was identified as Sandeep of New Ramesh Nagar here. He is the father-in-law of the victim’s son Jugnu.

The other accused have been identified as Kapil and Pankaj of Chandna Heri in Baghpat and Sompal of Salaheri in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. The accused were produced in a local court that remanded them in six-day police custody.

Inspector Rajpal said the CCTV footage came handy in cracking the case. Sandeep, whose daughter was married to Jugnu in June, noticed jewellery and cash in the house of his son-in-law and decided to commit the crime.

He knew his daughter and son-in-law would be off to their offices, while Jugnu’s 57-year-old mother Sudesh Rani would be alone at home during the day.

Sandeep went to Chhaprauli in Muzaffarnagar, met his friend Inam and planned a robbery. They also convinced Kapil, Pankaj and Sompal to help in the crime. Three masked men (Kapil, Pankaj and Sompal) barged into the house on July 25 and committed the crime.

A case was registered under Sections 392, 379B, 342 and 34 of the IPC and Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act. SP Sawan had announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for information on the miscreants. The investigation was later handed over the CIA-1 unit.

Mastermind a close relative

• The robbers decamped with Rs 4 lakh in cash and jewellery after taking an elderly woman hostage at gunpoint in Prakash Nagar on July 25
• The mastermind behind the crime was identified as Sandeep of New Ramesh Nagar here; he is the father-in-law of the victim’s son