Two held trying to loot ex-defence officers

NOIDA: Three men and a woman, claiming to be college students, robbed a retired brigadier and his driver on Saturday evening but failed in their attempt to snatch the car of a retired wing commander after a passerby fought them until police arrived.
The group had first attacked Brigadier Raghuvir Singh (retd), his wife and driver Rampal Singh around 10.45pm on Saturday. Singh and his family had just returned home in Sector 37 from a party.

When they reached home, they found two youths — Minhaaz and Saif, both around 20 — standing at their doorstep. They claimed to be from a satellite TV provider company and offered to increase the number of channels. Meanwhile, two others — Nitin Pawar and a woman Nidhi Rathore — were waiting in Nitin’s Honda City outside the house.

“When I told him that I had not called anyone, the youths took out pistols and forcibly entered the house. Then, they demanded Rs 3 lakh,” said Raghuvir Singh.

“One of them claimed that his mother was admitted to Kailash Hospital and her condition was quite serious. I told them nobody keeps Rs 3 lakh at home. When I argued with him, he slapped my driver and snatched his purse, money and the keys of my car from him. I asked my cook Gopal to call up police, which he did,” he said. As Gopal made the call to police, Minhaaz and Saif picked up Raghubir’s purse and tried to flee. As they rushed out, they saw Wing Commander Rajiv Sharma (retd) passing by in his vehicle. The youths allegedly sought a lift from Sharma and got into his car. Nitin and Nidhi followed them in the Honda City.

“As Sharma drove the car for a few metres, the youths attacked him and tried to snatch the keys of his car. They pushed Sharma out of the car and started driving away. However, the car soon crashed into a tree and the tyres got deflated,” SP (city) Arun Kumar said. Sharma’s struggle was, however, seen by a sales executive, Varun Dawar, who was passing through the area on his Royal Enfield.

He was on his way to Jaipuria Plaza and saw the retired wing commander struggling with the assailants.

“He called his friends and tried to engage the assailants in a fight until his friends arrived. As the youths fought the trio, the police arrived and caught Saif and Minhaaz,” he said. Nitin and Nidhi, however, managed to escape in their Honda City.

According to the police, the youths have been changing their statements and have claimed that their friends Nitin is an MCA passout from Greater Noida’s GL Bajaj Institute of Technology and Management and that Nidhi studies fashion designing in Amity University in Sector 125. Similarly, Saif has reportedly told the police he is a third-year BCA student at GL Bajaj Insitute. Minhaaz has apparently told the police that he studies in IIMT College of Engineering, Greater Noida.

A spokesperson for Amity University said there was no student named Nidhi Rathore in the varsity’s fashion designing course. A spokesperson for IIMT said they could not confirm whether the students were enrolled in their institute or not.

A spokesperson for GL Bajaj said they did not have a BCA course. The police have lodged an FIR against the four, including the girl, under Section 304 (attempt to robbery) of the IPC.