2 Ghaziabad cops held for robbing two men who looted ₹3.6 lakh from Delhi woman

Police were approached by a woman who lives in Delhi’s Bhajanpura. She said ₹3.6 lakh were stolen from her house by two men, who were in turn robbed by two cops

Ghaziabad police arrested two of their personnel for allegedly robbing two men suspected of stealing ₹3.6 lakh from a house in Delhi in May, police officers familiar with the matter said on Saturday.

The suspects were identified as head constable Dheeraj Chaturvedi and constable Indrajeet Kumar by the police, who said they were booked under Indian Penal Code section 392 (robbery) before being arrested. The police identified the woman as Richa Sharma and her husband as Alok Sharma, who live in Bhajanpura. (Representational Image)

According to the Ghaziabad police, on July 19, they were approached by a woman who lives in northeast Delhi’s Bhajanpura. The woman told the Ghaziabad police that ₹3.6 lakh were stolen from her house by two men, who were in turn robbed by two policemen in Ghaziabad, said police officers associated with the case. The woman’s revelations prompted an investigation, and the two suspect policemen were booked at the Shalimar Garden police station.

The suspects were identified as head constable Dheeraj Chaturvedi and constable Indrajeet Kumar by the police, who said they were booked under Indian Penal Code section 392 (robbery) before being arrested.

The police identified the woman as Richa Sharma and her husband as Alok Sharma, who live in Bhajanpura.

“The woman approached us on July 19 and said she was robbed of ₹3.6 lakh on the intervening night of May 25 and 26. She later discovered CCTV footage in her neighbourhood, through which she learned that two men, one her neighbour and another living in the same neighbourhood, were involved in the theft. She told us that after the theft, the two suspects came to DLF Colony in Ghaziabad on May 26, where they encountered the two suspect policemen,” said Vivek Chandra Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (trans-Hindon).

The woman said that when the two suspects arrived in DLF Colony, they were carrying the money they had stolen from her house on their person. When they encountered the two suspect policemen, the latter stole the money from them and let them go, the woman told the police, said, investigators.

“We ordered an inquiry and assigned it to the ACP of Shalimar Garden. At first glance, the role of two policemen has emerged, and they have been booked under IPC 392 and arrested,” DCP Yadav added.

Suryabali Maurya, assistant commissioner of police (ACP) of Shalimar Garden and the inquiry officer, said that the woman and her husband had come to give their statements to the Ghaziabad police and had also brought along the two men suspected of burglarizing her house.

“The two men were Naveen Verma, 20, and Gaurav (known only by a single name). They are familiar to both the woman and her husband. During their statements, they told us that they had come to DLF Colony to buy shoes from a local market. At the time, they were inebriated and got into a fight with a man, and the police were called. According to the two theft suspects’ statements, the two suspect policemen took them to a local police post, where they coughed up the stolen money and let them go. Prima facie, there was negligence on the part of the two policemen because they did not follow procedure and should have brought the two men to the local police station,” said ACP Maurya.

According to the police, the woman claimed that after the burglary at her house, she had filed a first information report in Delhi, but when the Ghaziabad police asked her to produce a copy of the FIR, she could not do so.

The DCP of North East Delhi could not be reached for a comment on the woman’s alleged theft case.

“Naveen and Gaurav are witnesses in the robbery case involving the two policemen. An investigation is underway. The woman told us that after 8-10 days of theft, she scanned several CCTVs in her neighbourhood, through which she confirmed the role of the two men in the theft at her house. If there is a theft case, it is under the jurisdiction of Delhi,” ACP added.