<![CDATA[An off-duty cab aggregator driver and two of his associates who had abducted and robbed an accountant at knife point in Okhla on January 19 were arrested on Wednesday, the police told. They added that the vehicle was purchased and attached recently with the cab aggregator, and accused cab driver Rehan Khan hired on January 1 by the car owner. Deputy Commissioner Police (South-East) Mr. Chinmoy Biswal told that Rehan confessed to robbing multiple passengers during off-duty hours with Ranjan Singh and Ravi Shankar Sharma, who are employed with a Noida-based garments manufacturing unit. Complainant Kaushal Kumar Sharma, an accountant with a south Delhi-based event production company, registered an FIR against unknown persons at Okhla police station on January 20. He told the police that he had gone to Okhla Phase-1 for official work the previous day and was waiting for an auto-rickshaw to Badarpur at a bus stop there around 8 p.m. when a taxi with “two passengers” stopped next to him and the driver inquired about his destination. When Mr. Sharma said he was headed to Badarpur, the driver told that the “two passengers” were going there as well and were ready to split the fare with him. The complainant told when the cab had moved a few metres I was overpowered by the trio at knife point. The accused drove towards Malviya Nagar. On the way, they took my laptop, mobile phone, ATM card and cash. They forced me to withdraw cash from an ATM kiosk in Malviya Nagar but I deliberately entered the wrong PIN code. They thrashed me as I could not withdraw money. They finally dumped me near Saket. He told the police about the car model and a few digits of the registration number. Six suspected cab owners were questioned before the police zeroed in on the taxi involved in the crime. Cab owner Naveen Jha told the police that he had hired Rehan on January 1. With help of technical surveillance, Rehan was detained from Okhla Mandi on Wednesday. His two associates were also arrested from different locations in the city. Mr. Biswal told that the police have recovered the knife used by the accused and the complainant’s things. Though the car was attached to a cab aggregator, it did not have a sticker with the company’s name. All three accused worked for a Noida-based export company as unskilled labour. However, Rehan was unable to make ends meet. He quit and started working as a cab driver. The trio live in a same locality. He added that they hatched a plan to rob people waiting for auto-rickshaws and buses late in the evening at crowded places like Lajpat Nagar, Ashram, Kalkaji, Govindpuri and Madangir.]]>
