The Ghaziabad police have erected several hoardings at the Mohan Nagar crossing, cautioning passengers not to board unverified private vehicles as gangs often rob passengers after offering them rides. The police said several crossings in the city are prone to such incidents and hoardings will be erected at those places as well.

The hoardings have been put up after rising incidents of robbery in which passengers boarded cabs or private vehicles and were robbed by miscreants already present in the vehicles posing as passengers. The police said such gangs mostly offered lifts from the Mohan Nagar junction.

According to the police, other vulnerable spots include Meerut crossing, Lal Kuan crossing and Raj Nagar Extension crossing. These spots have designated bus stops where passengers wait for state-run buses for different destinations like Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Aligarh, Bulandshahr, Hapur, Moradabad, and places in Uttarakhand.

“The public is advised not to board random vehicles, and to pick only verified public transport. There are other crossings such as Lal Kuan and Meerut tri-crossing from where passengers board unverified vehicles,” Shlok Kumar, superintendent of police (city), said.

The cops said that for now they have deployed a picket, which will be manned by two constables at Mohan Nagar crossing during night. The crossing already houses a police post.

“During the day, a fighter mobile vehicle is already deployed at Mohan Nagar while the PCR vans from Sahibabad police station will come for random checks 24x7,” Kumar said.

Social activist and councillor Rajendra Tyagi said the passengers generally board the unverified vehicles from designated bus stops to save on fare and for a comfortable ride.

“Generally the buses have no fixed timings. So the passengers get lured to board private taxis or cars for taking up a comfortable ride and also to reach their destination in time. They also try to save fare as several passengers often pool cars and make it cheaper to travel long distance. This is the tendency among the passengers which robbers try to cash in on,” Tyagi added.

According to the police, such gangs operate on various major roads and crossings and special teams have been formed to track them.

“The modus operandi of such gangs is to lure the passenger into their car. After that, they overpower the victim at gunpoint and rob him/her of cash and valuables. The victim is later dumped midway. Our special teams are trying to trace such gangs,” Kumar said.

On June 26, a 30-year-old Vaishali resident was waiting at Mohan Nagar for a bus to Roorkee when he was lured by a man to board a car. The passengers in the car turned out to be robbers who looted him of his valuables. The man was later dumped in Greater Noida.

In another incident, during the early hours of June 16, a Greater Noida (West) resident who was waiting for a bus to Rishikesh was offered lift by a gang in a car. The man was later robbed of his cash and valuables.

First Published: Jul 09, 2019 15:17 IST