Agra reports 120 loot incidents in 11 month

AGRA: Every evening when Anita Bindal (51), a bullion trader sees masked men on a motorbike, a chill goes down her spine as she is flooded with the horrific memories of the night when her son was shot by bike-borne men right outside their shop, after they robbed away jewellery worth over Rs 2 lakh from her. A resident of Kamla Nagar, Bindal says, police have failed to nab the assailants.
Similarly, Rahil Khan, another bullion trader, who was robbed on November 6 by three bike-borne armed assailants in Tajganj, says he is still waiting for the police to recover his valuables. “Till date, not a single person has been arrested. In fact on November 10, the robbers once again tried to break into my shop late night.”
While Yatendar Singh and Ram Murthi, the two cash-collection agents with a private company, who were robbed of nearly Rs 18 lakh, by motorbike-borne robbers, have now been demoted by their firm. “Our lives have changed after the incident. While the police could not crack the case, during investigation we were treated as culprits.”
According to Agra police, in last 11 months, 120 cases of robbery were reported, while last year, the number was total 124. In majority of cases, the crimes were carried by motorbike-borne and armed men.
Talking to TOI, senior superintendent of police, Preetinder Singh, said, “Majority of cases have been cracked and the accused have been sent to jail. The men involved in such crimes are young men who hail from different background and surrounding districts. While some execute robbery to meet out daily expenses, others do it as habit or are given contract.”
Recently, Agra police apprehended five dreaded criminals, wanted in over six districts (Agra, Firozabad, Aligarh, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Hathras) in more than 15 cases of robbery other crimes.
According to senior lawyer Durvijay Singh Bhaiya of Agra district court, “The numbers of robbery cases are much higher than the actual figures shared as police often does not lodge complaint of chain and phone snatching, which happens almost daily.”
Speaking to TOI, a senior cop, on anonymity, said, “We do registered complaints but in cases of mobile phone, it is next to impossible to trace it, as robbers dismantle the phone and sell its parts in various markets of Delhi, Jaipur, Lucknow and others. Hence, the victim, instead of filing FIR for robbery, prefers to give mobile phone lost complaint.”