3 drug addicts, including minor, held in armed robbery case in Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 22 (PTI) Delhi Police cracked an armed robbery case and arrested two men and detained a juvenile, who said they were to fund their drug addiction and committed the crime after being allegedly inspired by a web series.

The accused, Faizan (20), Armaan Malik (20) and a 16-year-old juvenile, were apprehended after police on October 12 received a complaint from Manohar Lal, who works at a cloth shop owned by one Ashok Kumar Jain in the Gandhi Nagar area of north-east Delhi.

"He had stated that around 8:30 pm, while returning home with his employer after closing the shop, he was carrying two bags, one containing Rs 1.10 lakh in cash. As they were on the way home, three masked men intercepted them. One of the accused pointed a pistol at Lal, while the others snatched the bags. When Lal resisted, he was repeatedly struck on the head with the butt of the pistol, leaving him grievously injured," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Prashant Gautam said in a statement on Wednesday.

He further said that a special investigation team analysed footage from over 300 CCTV cameras and traced the suspects' escape route.

"The team identified a scooter used in the crime, registered to one Qasim Mirza. During the inquiry, Qasim said he had lent the scooter to his friend Armaan, who revealed he had passed it to his acquaintance Faizan. Based on the investigation, police first arrested Faizan and recovered the scooter used in the offence," said the officer.

Acting on further inputs, police arrested Armaan, too, as well as a juvenile. A country-made pistol, a live cartridge, a mobile phone and part of the robbed money were recovered from their possession.

During interrogation, Armaan confessed that they were drug addicts and committed the robbery to fund their addiction. They said they were inspired by crime-based movies and web series and had conducted a recce of the area before executing the plan, said the DCP. PTI BM BM AMJ AMJ