Three persons, including an inspector posted with GRP Agra, were on Tuesday arrested in Agra on charges of robbing a group of wheat traders of ₹8.5 lakh in Umahi village of Saharanpur district on Monday.

The arrested accused included inspector in-charge of GRP (Agra Cantt) Lalit Tyagi, one Basheer Khan of Shaheed Nagar locality in Agra and Subhash Sharma, said Saharanpur cops. The police recovered ₹4.94 lakh from the looted money and raids were on to nab two constables and a taxi driver who were also involved in the robbery.

The remaining amount was with the absconding accused, said SSP Dinesh Kumar P while addressing a press conference in Saharanpur on Tuesday.

He appreciated the efforts of the crime branch and Nangal police, which solved the case a day after the robbery.

The SSP said wheat trader Akhtar and his men used to cheat the farmers during wheat procurement by weighing less foodgrains and one Basheer of Agra was aware about their illegal activity. He shared this information with inspector Lalit Kumar Tyagi who was posted with the GRP in Agra.

As per their plan, Basheer, Subhash, inspector Lalit and two constables of GRP in Agra – Rinku, Shayar Beg – and taxi driver Chhotu reached Umahi village early on Monday morning. Inspector Lalit and the two constables were in uniform.

They allegedly looted ₹8,43,500 from Akhtar and his men and also tried to take away Akhtar with them, but he somehow managed to jump out of the car. Hearing his screams, villagers gathered there and the accused fled in the car. Later, Akhtar lodged a case with the Nangal police station. The crime branch and Nangal police traced the suspects’ car from the CCTV footage of the toll barrier on Saharanpur-muzaffarnagar highway.

The vehicle’s registration number was found to be of Agra and a team was sent there. The cops arrested Basheer, Subhash and Lalit Tyagi.

First Published: May 15, 2019 16:27 IST