Ghaziabad: Five held for robbing trader, staff at gunpoint in Muradnagar

Police said the suspects snatched bags containing cash, daily ledgers and other documents from Garg and Kumar and fled the scene

A trader and his employee were shot and injured on Thursday night allegedly by six armed robbers who waylaid them near main market in Muradnagar in Ghaziabad, senior police officers said on Friday, adding that five of them were apprehended within hours after a brief exchange of fire with police, and four of them sustained gunshot wounds to their legs.

Police formed teams to nab the suspects and during a late night checking operation, they spotted the six suspects on two motorbikes who were injured during exchanged of fire with police. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

According to police, Satish Chand Garg, 48, and his employee, Bablu Kumar, 40, were returning home after closing the shop around 8.30pm, when they were fired upon near the main market in Muradnagar.

Bablu Kumar sustained a gunshot wound to his leg and the assailants also fired a shot in the air scare away the locals.

They snatched bags containing cash, daily ledgers and other documents from Garg and Kumar and fled the scene, police said.

In their police complaint, Kumar’s family claimed that the unidentified men took away ₹8.5 lakh cash. A first information report was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita section 311 (causing grievous injury by deadly weapons during robbery or dacoity) at Muradnagar police station.

Police formed teams to nab the suspects and during a late night checking operation, they spotted the six suspects on two motorbikes.

“They were signalled to stop, but they did not stop and tried to speed away. In the process, they also opened fire at the police. In the retaliatory fire (near Upper Ganga Canal regulator area), four of them sustained a gunshot wound each to their legs. A fifth man was held after a combing exercise, while the sixth man managed to flee,” said Siddharth Gautam, assistant commissioner of police, Masuri/Muradnagar circle.

The four injured suspects were identified as Mohammad Shahrukh, 23; Abhishek Jatav, 22; Nadeem Alvi, 25; and Shivansh Kumar, 22; and the fifth one as Harish Kashyap, 23. The one on the run was identified as Dushyant Prajapati.

“Suspect Nadeem is a construction labourer, and he had spotted Garg counting cash at his shop about eight days ago. He roped in his friend Dushyant who further involved his other friends in the plan to rob the trader at gunpoint. After carrying out a recce of the trader, they accosted Garg on Thursday night. Bablu is being treated for his gunshot injury,” the ACP said.

Police said Bablu, however, has revealed that the looted cash was only about ₹3,000.

“The victim’s family later admitted to having wrongly assessed the stolen amount as ₹8.5 lakh. Our teams nabbed the suspects within 12 hours of the incident,” said Surendra Nath Tiwari, deputy commissioner of police, rural zone.

Meanwhile, four illegal firearms, including a pistol, two bikes, three ledgers and documents taken from the trader, were recovered by police along with ₹690 in cash.