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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, January 25: Shiva, 25, used to work as a parking attendant in the PVR Anupam movie complex during the day and rob buses and milk booths in the night, police say. He was arrested yesterday along with Vijay and Sanjay. Arun, another accomplice, was the first to be picked up.
According to DCP (south) P.K. Srivastava, the breakthrough in the cases followed the arrest of Arun. The police were able to trace him after a bus conductor said he had spotted Arun in the PVR Anupam Complex area.
Arun reportedly confessed to the robberies, and also told the police that Shiva was the mastermind. Yesterday, a police team from Ambedkar Nagar police station intercepted Shiva, Vijay and Sanjay on the Mehrauli-Badarpur Road. The trio were reportedly travelling in a stolen Maruti car. Srivastava says one of the youths fired from a country-made revolver, when the police team intercepted them. The policemen retaliated. No one was, however, injured in the gunfire. The police have recovered a country-made pistol and two knives from them.
Srivastava says both Shiva and Vijay have criminal backgrounds. Shiva also served a five-year-prison term after he was convicted for his involvement in his girlfriend’s murder. He was released in 1997.
Vijay, who used to work as a ticket-checker in PVR Anupam cinema, was arrested earlier in connection with a car-theft case. Sanjeev and Arun, however, didn’t have any criminal cases against them, when they met Shiva and Vijay.
“Each of the youths used to work in or around the PVR complex. After finishing their day’s work around 7 p.m., they would assemble outside a fruit juice shop, drink alcohol, drive to bus stops and milk booths in stolen cars and loot the of occupants of those place,” says Srivastava.
Shiva, who masterminded the robberies, has reportedly told the police that the group also attack their targets before 10 p.m., when traffic was still heavy on the roads of Delhi. “He has told us that he picked up all these tricks while serving his sentence in Tihar. Committing crimes during rush-hour traffic would enable him to avoid a police chase. Secondly, he contends that since it is difficult to trace stolen money, unlike other goods, he stuck to looting only cash,” adds Srivastava.
