Police in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh have cracked a car robbery case within days of the crime, arresting two inter-district criminals who allegedly targeted cab drivers by first booking their vehicles and then robbing them at knifepoint. The arrests were made by the Kamalapur police station and mark a significant breakthrough in an incident that had shaken commuters relying on booked rides in the area.
A Criminal Record Spanning Several Districts
The two men taken into custody have been identified as Ashish, a resident of Amethi, and Ajay Pratap Singh, a resident of Gonda. Investigators say both belong to different districts but had been operating together across the region for a while. Each of the two already had 10 criminal cases registered against him in Lucknow, Ayodhya, Barabanki and other districts, which means the pair had a combined 20 prior cases on record even before this robbery. That spread of cases across multiple districts shows the gang was not confined to one police jurisdiction, making the arrest an inter-district operation for the Kamalapur police.
SP Announces Reward of Rs 20,000 for the Team
Recognising the success of the Kamalapur police in tracking down the accused, Sitapur SP Ankur Agarwal announced a reward of Rs 20,000 for the team involved in the case. During questioning, the two men laid out their method of operation for investigators: they would first get a car booked through its driver, rob the vehicle, and then use that very stolen car to pick up unsuspecting passengers, robbing them as well before finally abandoning the vehicle at the scene and fleeing on foot. Along with the stolen car, the police recovered a country-made pistol, a knife and other items linked to the crime from the two accused.
WagonR Booked for Rs 1,400, Driver Beaten and Robbed at Knifepoint
At a press conference held at the police lines, ASP Durgesh Singh walked through the sequence of events that led to the robbery. He said that on the night of July 18/19, the accused had booked a WagonR car for Rs 1,400 to travel from Kamta bus stand to Kamalapur. Once the car reached Kamalapur, the men directed the driver towards Vikrampur road, where they beat him up, threatened him with a knife and robbed him of the WagonR car. A case over the robbery was registered at Kamalapur police station soon afterwards, and the local police began investigating the matter to trace both the vehicle and the culprits.
Patrol Team Spots the Stolen White Car and Cracks the Case
ASP Singh said that Kamalapur police personnel were patrolling the area in search of wanted accused connected to other cases when they noticed a white car passing through. Acting on suspicion, the police stopped the vehicle and searched it, recovering an illegal country-made pistol, several cartridges, a knife and the original driver's documents from inside. Questioned on the spot, the two men identified themselves as Ashish, a resident of Amethi, and Ajay Pratap Singh, a resident of Gonda, the same duo already wanted for the Kamta bus stand to Kamalapur robbery. The police have since registered a case against both men and completed the legal process of producing them before the court.
