3 Bangladeshi arrested in Ghaziabad armed robbery

At least six persons, including three Bangladesh nationals, were arrested Friday over their alleged involvement in a robbery at a businessman's house in Ghaziabad's Raj Nagar in India.

While Mohammad Khairul (46), Mohammad Sadiq Seikh (29) and Mohammad Montu Mulla (30), who are from Bangladesh, were arrested by the Delhi Police, Rajiv Srivastava, who allegedly used to provide cars to the gang, his alleged accomplice Shivam Singh, and a woman, who's name has not been revealed, were arrested by the Ghaziabad police.

On February 27, businessman Pawan Garg and his family had been held hostage at gunpoint by four masked robbers inside his house in Sector 6 of Raj Nagar and jewellery and cash worth ₹12 lakh were looted.

The Delhi Police was tracking the gang in connection with several cases of robberies in the NCR, the Ghaziabad police said.

They said that gang leader Khairul, Mulla and Sheikh, along with another accomplice, had allegedly entered Garg's house.

"The three arrested by the Ghaziabad police were stationed outside. Srivastava brought the gang to the spot in his car, an i-20, and used the same to help the gang flee," said Nipun Agrawal, superintendent of police (city 1).

The officers said that after the incident the gang leader allegedly went to a house at Mamura in Noida, while some members went to Delhi.

The Ghaziabad police said that through electronic surveillance, started tracking the suspects and nabbed three of them near Raj Nagar Extension late Friday, when they allegedly came for another robbery in the area.

The Ghaziabad police initially lodged an FIR under section 392 (robbery) at Kavi Nagar police station while the it was changed to IPC section 395 (dacoity) when involvement of more suspects came to the fore.

In a statement, the Delhi Police said on Saturday that the prime suspects Khairul, Mulla and Sheikh were arrested by the crime branch from near Lado Sarai in Delhi.

The Delhi Police said Srivastava allegedly used to provide rented houses and cars to the gang which they used in crimes. The police said that the gang members would allegedly target houses in posh colonies and mostly entered houses after cutting window grilles, and they used the same modus operandi during the dacoity at Garg's house in Ghaziabad.

"During interrogation, it was revealed that all the (three) suspects are Bangladesh nationals and involved in several cases of dacoity and burglaries committed in NCR. Khairul is the gang leader and has been committing crimes since 1997. He and Mulla illegally entered India through Satkhira Border, West Bengal, in October 2020. Sheikh also illegally entered India and was residing in Kolkata with his family," the Delhi Police said in the statement, adding that Khairul allegedly met Srivastava in 2012.

Police said Khairul has 15 criminal cases against him while Mulla and Sheikh have 19 and two cases, respectively, against them at police stations across NCR.

"One of our teams went to Delhi to bring the three prime suspects on transit remand for more questioning in the Raj Nagar incident. We recovered the car used and ₹26,600 from the three suspects arrested by us," the Ghaziabad SP (city 1) said.

The Delhi Police recovered gold and silver jewellery and expensive wrist watches from the suspects arrested in Delhi.

Victim Pawan Garg said he identified jewellery items and watches which belonged to his family. "But I have opted not to identify the suspects as all of them were covering their faces during the incident," Garg said.