Delhi: Watch shop worker staged robbery to make off with owner's Rs 23 lakh; caught

New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) The Delhi Police has exposed a staged robbery alleged to have taken place near Old Delhi Railway Station and recovered the entire cash stolen by a watch shop worker, an officer said on Monday.

During their investigation, police pored over footage from more than 500 cameras to track the movements of the accused, the officer said.

The missing cash, Rs 23.37 lakh, was found with Akash, a worker at a watch shop in Lajpat Rai Market, who fabricated a robbery story to mislead the police and his owner.

On September 18, Sanjay Aggarwal, a resident of Rohini, asked Akash to collect the money from his office in the Fatehpuri area of Katra Bariyan at Lahori Gate and deliver it to a person.   Hours later, when Aggarwal called Akash to confirm the delivery, he found his phone switched off. He then called the police.

The next day, Akash made a call to the police, saying that when he was on his way to deliver the money, he was knocked unconscious by some chemical smoke, the officer said.   Akash said when he came around, he found himself on a footpath near Old Delhi Railway Station, with the cash and his mobile phone missing.

Police, however, found his tale unconvincing and set out to unravel the mystery of the missing cash.

They tracked footage from over 500 CCTV cameras and found a series of them showing Akash walking with a black bag.

Police questioned Akash about his movements and were again told another story.

"When confronted, Akash changed his story. He alleged that he had handed the bag over to a co-worker outside the railway station and then took an auto to Red Fort," said the officer.   CCTV footage confirmed Akash took an auto but he never went to the Red Fort. Instead, he headed towards Akshardham.

The co-worker he named was also tracked down. He said he had involvement.

At length, under sustained questioning, Akash confessed to staging the entire incident. He revealed that he had kept the money and his mobile phone in a room he rented in Khoda Colony in Ghaziabad for this purpose.

A police team raided the house and recovered the cash, the black bag, and the mobile phone.

Akash, a class 11 dropout, had been working with Aggarwal for more than four years, but was not happy with his earnings, so he decided to rob the owner, police said. PTI BM VN VN