This story is from January 22, 2017

Unsafe to stop cars at Yamuna e-way, say officials after dozen robberies in a year

Unsafe to stop cars at Yamuna e-way, say officials after dozen robberies in a year
(Representative image)
AGRA: Presence of highway robbers on the Yamuna expressway has been a serious cause of concern for the e-way authorities who have been alarmed by reports of over a dozen robbery cases here in the past year.
Speaking with TOI on the condition of anonymity, an investigative officer who had worked on at least three such cases in the recent past, said, “The assailants are mostly from nearby areas, but in some cases we found that even men from Nadia (West Bengal) and Jharkhand were involved in such incidents.”
“Their modus operandi involves cutting the barbed wire alongside the expressway at 10-12 spots and throwing heavy metal objects at vehicles to make them stop.
Once the vehicle stops due to tyre burst or the driver comes out to check damage to his vehicle, the assailants pounce on the travellers,” he said.
“Majority of attacks on travellers and robberies on the expressway have occurred in the Palwal-Jewar-Tappal-Naujheel stretch. In the past one year, over a dozen such incidents have been reported,” he said.
Another cop said, “It’s easy for us to catch local criminals involved in such crimes, but it’s next to impossible to nab men from other states, as they keep moving from one place to another.”
Last month, a Delhi resident was robbed by a gang of assailants on the expressway, after they threw an axle at his vehicle forcing him for stop suddenly in middle of the road. Then, in the second week of January, police arrested two men from Haryana, who confessed to the crime.

In the wake of these incidents, highway authorities have begun to ask travellers at every toll plaza not to stop their vehicles anywhere.
According to an expressway official, “We often use loudspeakers to warn travellers that they should avoid stopping on the expressway even in the situation of a tyre burst. They should instead keep driving at a slow speed and call us for help.”
He said, “Presence of illegal dhabas along the expressway gives a good opportunity to robbers to recce the area for targets. On several occasions, we have informed higher authorities in Noida, NHAI and local police officials to dismantle these dhabas, but nothing has been done yet.”
Inspector general of police (Agra zone) Sujeet Pandey said, “We have sufficient arrangements to secure the sensitive stretch. At every 30 km, there is a police van with arms and ammunition to prevent such robberies, apart from police outpost at tolls. It’s unfortunate that so many assailants managed to loot passengers in a bus on Sunday.”
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About the Author
Arvind Chauhan

Arvind Chauhan is an experienced journalist with a demonstrated history of working in the newspapers industry as well as for the social media wing as digital content creator. He has covered subjects like railways, aviation, defence, energy, health, real estate, minority affairs, women and child development, crime, customs, telecom, district court, district administration, roads and infrastructure, armed forces tribunal, and regional politics across Uttar Pradesh. He began his career in Lucknow, and has done reporting in West Uttar Pradesh. He has won the Times Scribe Award four times including for busting fake news, and extensive coverage on Covid orphans. He graduated with a journalism degree from Times School of Journalism and BA (Honors) in English from Lucknow University.

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