Noida cops zero in on criminals after identifying one on Facebook

Noida Police on Thursday arrested four men for allegedly robbing Rs 50,000 from a B. Tech student near Sector 94 on Tuesday evening.

The accused — identified as Rohit, Sagar Chauhan, Yash Tyagi and Prince Tyagi — allegedly robbed the B.Tech student, Ravi Shankar, around 4pm on Tuesday.

Police said the Shankar, 21, a resident of Sadarpur village, was on his way to submit his college fee when the incident took place. The victim was travelling in a Hyundai Eon and the robbers stopped him after overtaking his car.

Shankar later told the police that he pleaded with the accused and told them to let him go as the money he had was meant to pay his tuition fee.

While being robbed, one of the accused asked him if he knew people from Sadarpur. When Shankar gave out three names, the robber told him that one of the persons Shankar had named was their Facebook friend. The accused later fled the spot.

“In a bid to threaten the victim, one of them also showed Shankar a stamp of jail on his hand and claimed that he had been released recently from prison. We checked the friends list of Shankar on Facebook and found one person whose brother was lodged in jail,” said Babar Raza Zaidi, station house officer, Sector 39 police station.

The police identified the suspect as Rohit, who had gone to meet his brother Mohit in the city jail on Tuesday morning. Rohit’s hand had been stamped when he entered the jail.

“We conducted a raid but Rohit was found absconding from his residence. Investigations then led us to three of his friends. Following intelligence inputs, Sagar Chauhan, Prince Tyagi and Yash Tyagi were nabbed from Sector 97 on Wednesday evening,” said Zaidi.

On being grilled, the accused gave up Rohit’s whereabouts after which he was arrested too.

“During interrogation, it was found that the accused were involved in three other similar cases of robbery. We have recovered Rs 35,000, two mobile phones and other looted items from the possession of the accused. They were produced in a local court that sent them to jail,” said Zaidi.