Two women caught after taking lift from contractor a second time after 4 months

Two women were arrested on Wednesday after they took a lift from a contractor in his SUV, four months after they robbed him of ₹3.5 lakh using the same modus operandi on NH-48 near Pachgaon Chowk in Manesar, said police.

According to police, on the morning of December 27, the contractor, who is from Delhi, was returning to Gurugram from Rajasthan’s Tijara when the two suspects, identified as Amrita Kumari (35) and Mukesh Kumari (37) from Rewari, asked for a lift near Pachgaon Chowk. They allegedly stole ₹3.5 lakh kept in a bag while keeping the contractor engaged in conversation, said police.

Since then, the contractor used to frequently travel on the same route in the morning with the aim of tracing the women and luck finally shone on him on Wednesday.

Requesting anonymity for security reasons, the contractor, who is in his mid-50s, said soon after the theft on December 27, he hired a young man and paid him for fuel and ₹400 daily to travel on the same route and trace the women. “He left after 10 days. Sometime in mid-January, I decided to take the task of finding the women upon myself and get them arrested,” said the contractor.

The contractor said after leaving his home in Delhi, he travelled towards Bhiwadi and took the same route in the morning, which he had taken to travel to Gurugram on December 27. “This continued for weeks with no success. I wore caps and sunglasses to keep my face covered,” he said.

“Around 10.30am on Wednesday, I was going towards Pachgaon Chowk to travel to Gurugram when I spotted the two women trying to take a lift in another car,” he said.

The contractor said he immediately stopped his SUV and offered them a lift, which they accepted without identifying him. “One of them sat on the front seat and another at the back, just like they did last time...after travelling some distance, they probably identified me and forced me to stop,” he said.

The contractor said soon after they alighted and crossed the highway, he called the station house officer of Manesar police station. “The duo boarded a pickup van and tried to flee. I ran and stopped the driver. After sometime, a four-member police team reached the spot and arrested the women,” he said.

The contractor said he did not tell anything to his family about his attempt to trace the suspects nor about his success in the mission. “My family would get worried. My only aim was to ensure no one else fell prey to these women,” he said.

According to police, the two women were arrested from the highway with the contractor’s help around 11am on Wednesday.

Based on the contractor’s complaint, an FIR was registered against the two women under Section 379 (theft) of the IPC at Manesar police station on Wednesday evening.

Police said the two women are suspected to be a part of a professional gang, whose members take lift from those travelling alone in their car or bike on the highway and steal whatever valuables by engaging the driver in conversations or by threatening them.

Inspector Pankaj Kumar, station house officer of Manesar police station, said two cases are registered against the women in Rewari too. “The same modus-operandi was used.. They have been put under police custody for a day for interrogation,” said the SHO.