5 arrested for snatchings, robberies in east Delhi

Five men have been arrested for their alleged involvement in cases of snatchings and robberies in east Delhi, police said today.
The gang leader, Asif (27), used to wear a mask whenever he roamed around Trilokpuri area, due to which he was never identified, said DCP (East) Omvir Singh.
"He used to change his hairstyle frequently to avoid detection. He used to commit snatchings and robberies to get easy money and to spend lavishly on his girlfriends," said the officer.
After a big catch, he would travel to Goa for a vacation with his girlfriend, said another officer.
To impress his girlfriend, he even opened fire in the locality where he stayed.

"He had also opened fire on police few times. He used to commit snatchings on stolen bikes and used a bike for a period of a month only to avoid detection," said Singh.

On October 19 last year, Sanjay Sharma, a salesman of Rajhans Oil Company told police that he was robbed of Rs 4 lakh by four or five persons at gunpoint near Pandav Nagar petrol pump, said the officer.
Special Staff of East district was assigned the task to nab the gang involved behind this incident and other cases.
A team under the leadership of inspector Vinay Yadav of Special Staff/East under the supervision of Y K Tyagi, ACP (Operations) was constituted and investigation was taken up, said Singh.

"For the last two months, efforts were made to track the movements of the suspects and to trace their hideouts. Informer network was activated and during this several inputs were received. He used to change his bikes to avoid detection. He also used to roam in different cars," said the DCP.
He had roped in many new people in his gang who would alert him whenever police would plan to conduct a raid on him.
"It was found that he had few girlfriends. The police team mounted technical surveillance on his girlfriends and Asif's movements were tracked. He slept every night in different localities of Pasonda, Chilla, New Ashok Nagar and Trilokpuri. A specific input was received on February 7 that Asif along with his associates will come to Pandav Nagar area for recce of the area to commit some cash robbery," said the officer.

The team conducted a raid in the area of Pandav Nagar where Asif along with Tariq Salmani and Hemu who were on a bike were intercepted, but Asif flung out his pistol to escape.
Any untoward incident was avoided and all the three were apprehended.
From their possession, two country-made pistols along with six live cartridges were recovered. The motorcycle, a 200 CC KTM Duke had been stolen from Mayur Vihar.
Following the interrogation of Asif and the other arrested persons, two gang members Sumit and Pankaj Rawat were also arrested.