Two arrested for robbing people out to buy essentials during lockdown

The Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested two men for allegedly targeting and robbing people in Shahdara who were out to buy essentials during the lockdown, police said on Tuesday.

The two men were identified as Balbeer Sharma and his associate Monu. They were nabbed from near the Yamuna Sports complex here while efforts were taken to nab two others, the police said.

Taking advantage of the lockdown, they used to target those who were either going to or returning from Ghazipur mandi after buying essentials, police said.

With their arrest, police claimed four cases have been solved so far.

According to police, the matter came to light on Sunday after a resident of Jwala Nagar reported that when he was going to Ghazipur mandi to buy vegetables early morning, two men approached him on a white scooter, overpowered him and robbed him of Rs 2,000.

A case was registered in Vivek Vihar police station and another similar case was reported the next day by a resident of Jhilmil, a police official said.

"During inquiry, it was revealed that two similar robbery incidents were also reported in the past one week, all in the vicinity of Ghazipur mandi," said Dinesh Kumar Gupta, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara).

During investigation, CCTV footages were checked to identify suspects.

Several pickets were raised on the stretches around the mandi and police personnel deployed in plain clothes to look like vegetable vendors and local residents, in order to trace the suspects, he said.

During interrogation, the accused said as roads are less crowded during the lockdown it was easy for them to escape after committing the crime, he added.

Three robbed mobile phones, Rs 2,000 cash and a knife was recovered from their possession, police said.