Driver, conductor of private bus in Delhi held for allegedly robbing passengers

The driver and conductor of a private bus were arrested on Friday for allegedly robbing passengers after offering them ride at lower fares to their destinations from outside the Anand Vihar railway station, police said.

Police said the men mostly targeted people from states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, who travel to the national capital in search of private jobs or work as labourers.

On Friday, the duo – Jitender Singh Porwar,34, and Amit Singh,24 – robbed seven men from Bihar after they arrived to work as daily wage labourers, deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said.

“Porwar is the driver while Singh is the conductor of the bus in which the crime took place. The bus belongs to a private transporter and it plies between Anand Vihar railway station and Noida,” he said.

DCP Biswal said that around 7 am on Friday, a group of seven men approached the police personnel of a quick reaction team (QRT) vehicle and reported the robbery of their cash by the driver and conductor of a private bus, which they had boarded from outside the Anand Vihar railway station to reach Najafgarh.

“The complainants were from Bihar. They said they were waiting for a bus when the two men offered them a ride to Najafgarh in their bus at a cheaper fare. The men boarded the bus and it left for their destination,” said Biswal.

The complainants alleged that as the bus reached the Yaumna bridge near Sarai Kale Khan, the conductor locked the doors, took out a stick and threatened to assault the passengers if they refused to hand over their money.

“The passengers panicked and the conductor robbed around R4,000 from them. He forced them to deboard the bus as it neared the Sarai Kale Khan flyover,” said the officer.

DCP Biswal said one of their teams found the bus outside the railway station and caught its driver and conductor.

Police said the duo revealed they had robbed more passengers. “We are trying to find out if more such cases were registered against them in police stations across Delhi-NCR,” said an investigator.