Cab thieves held after gunfight in Dadri

GREATER NOIDA: Two criminals who robbed a driver of his Ola cab by posing as customers were arrested after a brief exchange of fire in Dadri in the early hours of Tuesday, police said. Two of their accomplices, however, managed to give cops the slip.
“Cab driver Shiv Kumar reached the pick-up point in a WagonR. The four got into the cab posing as customers. However, they soon held the driver hostage at gunpoint and froced him to drive around Noida and Greater Noida for some three hours,” said Nishank Sharma, circle officer (Dadri).

Around 2.30 am, the men asked the driver to hand over the cab keys and get down. “When Kumar tried to put up a resistance, the criminals attacked him with a knife inflicting injuries on his hands. They then dumped Kumar on the Noida-Greater Noida expressway and drove off in the cab,” said Sharma.

An injured Kumar sought help from a passer-by and called police. Soon, a team from the Expressway police station reached the spot.

“We first admitted the driver to JS Hospital for first aid and then informed other police stations. An alert was flashed for patrolling in all the station areas,” said Vedpal Singh Pundir, SHO of Expressway police station.

The criminals ran out of luck a couple of hours later when Dadri police intercepted their vehicle at a barricade near Kot Nagar. “When cops signalled them to stop for checking, the four tried to speed away after opening fire at the police team. But the police retaliated and nabbed the criminals after a brief gunfight,” said Sharma.

While two criminals — identified as Rahul and Kunal, residents of Dadri — were nabbed, two others managed to escape. Rahul and Kunal sustained gunshot injuries and were sent to district hospital. Police have also recovered two country-made guns, some live cartridges, a knife, and the stolen Wagon R from their possession.

When contacted, an Ola spokesperson said, “This is an unfortunate incident and we are in touch with the family of the driver partner. We are also supporting the authorities in their investigation.”