Fifth Accused Held in Rs 25 Lakh Sector 47 Robbery

GURUGRAM: The crime branch has arrested a fifth accused in the April 29 armed robbery in which a fintech company's collection manager was relieved of about Rs 25 lakh at gunpoint near Park Hospital in Sector 47.

A team from the Sector 31 crime unit picked up Sameer Alam in Mumbai on Wednesday, police said. Alam is a resident of Purniya village in Bihar's Sheohar district. Police had announced a reward of Rs 5,000 for his arrest.

With Alam's arrest, five men are now in custody in the case. From the accused, police have so far recovered the motorcycle and pistol allegedly used in the robbery, Rs 10.52 lakh in cash and a mobile phone worth about Rs 1 lakh.

"We are questioning the accused," a senior police officer said. Police have not yet said what role Alam allegedly played on the day of the robbery.

## The April 29 robbery

The collection manager was on a motorcycle, carrying about Rs 25 lakh to a bank, when three men on another motorcycle intercepted him near Park Hospital, police had said after the first arrests. They held him at gunpoint, snatched the bag with the cash and fled.

An official of the fintech company filed a complaint the same day, and a case of armed robbery under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Arms Act was registered at the Sadar police station.

## Earlier arrests

The Sector 31 crime unit's first breakthrough came when it arrested one associate, from whom Rs 4 lakh was recovered. In late May, the same team arrested three more suspects near a school in Fazilpur and took them on three-day police remand. Rs 52,000 in cash and the motorcycle used in the crime were seized from them at the time. A reward of Rs 5,000 had been declared on each of the three, who police said had been on the run.

Of those three, two were from Jaswant Nagar in Etawah and Kuthonda in Jalaun, both in Uttar Pradesh, and the third was from Bari village in Madhya Pradesh's Chhatarpur district. They had been living in Pataudi Chowk, Basai and Kadipur in the city. Police said one of them already faced four cases of theft and illegal firearms possession, another had six such cases, and the third had an Arms Act case registered against him in Delhi.

## Money still missing

The cash recovered so far adds up to less than half of the Rs 25 lakh that was taken. Police said after the earlier arrests that efforts were on to recover the rest, and the questioning of Alam is expected to focus on where the remaining money went.

The case is still under investigation at the Sadar police station, and none of the five accused has been convicted.