Man, friends rob cab driver to celebrate girlfriend's birthday, arrested

NEW DELHI: To fund his girlfriend's birthday celebration, a man and his friends robbed a cab driver at gunpoint, following which three of the accused were arrested in Bindapur area of Dwarka district, police said Monday.

The driver, who works with a cab aggregator, had complained to police that he was robbed of his valuables by four people, who had booked a ride in his car, in the early hours of March 30, an official said.

Three of the accused, Gurpreet Singh (19), Aakash (22) and Jasveer Singh (24), were arrested the next day after police got information that they were roaming in Bindapur area, deputy commissioner of oolice (Dwarka) Anto Alphonse said.

During interrogation, it was revealed that Jasveer had briefly worked with a cab aggregator as driver but was thrown out for his inappropriate activities and frequent complaints from passengers, the police officer said.

On March 30, Jasveer planned to celebrate birthday of his girlfriend but lack of money was the problem. After discussion with his friends, they decided to rob a taxi for money and also to exact revenge on the aggregator, he said.

The accused used an old SIM card to book the cab at about 2 am on March 30. When the cab arrived, Gurpreet sat on the front seat and the other three occupied the seats at the back, the DCP said.

After sometime, they forced the driver to stop and Gurpreet tried to take the control of ignition keys by keeping the driver at gunpoint. In the process the key broke and they had to abandon their plan of taking the car.

Instead, they took the bluetooth speaker, mobile phone, purse and around Rs 3,000 cash from the driver and fled. They spent the cash for organising a birthday party in the evening and then planned to rob another car at night, Alphonse said.

Gurpreet was arrested earlier in a murder case and had been in jail for a few months, the officer said.