Travelling to attend mother’s funeral, man robbed by auto driver in Delhi

A man who was on his way to attend his mother’s last rites was robbed of cash, mobile phone and clothes by an auto driver and three others in south Delhi’s Meethapur on Friday morning, police said.

Manoj Kumar said he told the four men that he was going to Madhya Pradesh to attend his mother’s last rites but they paid no heed. Kumar, 32, a native of Sagar district in MP, is a computer operator in Ballabhgarh, Haryana.

Kumar told the police that on Friday morning, he received a call about his mother’s death. He took a bus from Ballabhgarh to Badarpur border in south Delhi on way to catch a train at the Anand Vihar railway station.

When he reached Badarpur around 8 am, an auto driver offered to drop him at Anand Vihar for Rs 200. Kumar informed the driver about his mother’s death and urged him to hurry.

“The driver said there was a traffic jam on the regular route and would take me via Meethapur. I trusted him and agreed,” said Kumar, adding when they reached Meethapur, the driver offered lift to three other men. “I objected but he told me the three were fellow auto drivers and he would drop them at a little further,” he said.

A few minutes later, the driver stopped the auto and the three men asked Kumar to step out. The moment he got off, the men snatched his mobile and some cash in his pocket and began driving away with his briefcase in the auto.

“I pleaded with them to return my belongings. I told them about my mother’s death, but they didn’t care,” said Kumar who tried to hold on to the auto but couldn’t. Kumar managed to note down the auto’s registration number and gave the details to the police.

Having lost his clothes, Rs 10,000 cash and his mobile phone, Kumar was stranded on the road. He sought help from a passerby to contact police and his family.

Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (south-east), said a case of theft and assault to commit theft had been registered at Jaitpur police station. “We are verifying the vehicle’s registration number and the address associated with it,” said the DCP.