Three young men, two of them with previous criminal involvement, went on a crime spree in the Millennium City in the early hours of Sunday, injuring two policemen and snatching a weapon from them. They then robbed a petrol pump and opened fire at a police team at a barricade — all within a span of six hours.
The trio was arrested at Akeda Naka in the neighbouring Mewat district after Gurgaon police sounded an alert in the neighbouring districts. The accused have been identified as Sumit, Hitesh and Rohtash.
Travelling in an SUV, the accused allegedly hit from behind a motorcycle being used by two policemen on patrolling duty near AKD Towers in Sector 14 here. They then took away their carbine and 10 cartridges.
“The police control room received a call about the incident around 12.30 a.m. Swinging the force into action, security was tightened at all barricades. The vehicle was identified and its registration number noted down. Nearly 45 minutes later, another call was received about three men in the same vehicle who did not pay for fuel at a petrol pump in the Sector 10 and also robbed an attendant of over Rs.2,000 in cash,” said Police Commissioner Navdeep Virk.
An hour later, the trio tried to mow down a police team at a barricade on the outskirts and managed to escape after a long chase by the police. Meanwhile, another team working on the case found that the vehicle being used by the criminals was registered in the name of Ajit, a resident of Jhajjar. A team was immediately despatched to Jhajjar and it was revealed that vehicle was with Hitesh, a resident of Garhi Harsaru village.
The trio was eventually arrested by the Mewat Police after a brief encounter around 6 a.m. “The three hit the barricade at Akeda in Nuh and opened fire at the police when signalled to stop. The trio then entered a nearby village and were eventually arrested,” said Station House Office (Nuh) Jagdish Prasad.
Sumit (23) and Hitesh (22) have been involved in criminal activities earlier, with the latter allegedly involved in as many as 10 cases of attempt-to-murder, cheating and under the Arms Act. Both were sentenced to seven years in jail in a case pertaining to attack on the police and are out on bail.
While Hitesh and Rohtash are residents of Garhi Harsaru in Gurgaon, Sumit belongs to Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar.
The police claim to have recovered the stolen weapon and a cartridge from the accused. “The investigation so far has revealed that the three had planned to commit a crime and made a pre-mediated attack on the policemen to arrange for a weapon,” said Mr. Virk.
Separate cases have been registered against the trio at Civil Lines, Sector 10 and Nuh police stations. The two were produced before court in Nuh and remanded to two days in police custody.
