Delhi businessman robbed of Rs.7.69 crore

A businessman was robbed of Rs.7.69 crore at gun point in a meticulously planned robbery here Tuesday, police said.

Rakesh Chawla lost the money as a group of armed men made away with his car while he was arguing with the occupants of another car that had halted suddenly ahead of his vehicle, causing a collision.

The entire crime took place on an otherwise busy road in Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi, close to a Delhi Metro station.

Police who reconstructed the crime said the robbers used two cars: a Wagon R and a Verna.

Chawla, who deals in property, was going towards central Delhi from his Greater Kailash-I office in south Delhi around 9 a.m. with three associates and a driver in his Honda City car.

A Wagon R overtook Chawla's car and suddenly stopped in the front. Its occupants got into a heated row with Chawla.

That is when the Verna car turned up. Its occupants sprang out and held the businessman captive at gun point.

While one group of robbers escaped from the spot in the victim's car which had Rs.7.69 crore, the other sped away in their Verna car, a police officer said. The robbers' Wagon R car was left behind.

The entire operation, clearly carefully planned, lasted around 20 minutes.

Police said they were verifying the origin of the looted amount.

Some three hours after the robbery, police traced the Verna car, bearing a Haryana registration plate, at Jangpura in south Delhi.

Chawla's Honda City was recovered on a flyover near Sewa Nagar, also in south Delhi, but minus the money.

Both the cars used in the crime were stolen, said an officer.

According to an official at the vehicle registration authority in Gurgaon, the vehicle had been registered by a woman at an address which has turned out to be fake.

The name of the woman's husband's or father was not mentioned in the registration record, and the address given was non-existent.