New Delhi:
Three men have been arrested for allegedly robbing a Canadian national employed as a pilot with IndiGo airlines of Rs 1.30 lakh after threatening him with a knife near Delhi Cantt area, police said Monday.
Mehraj Salmani, Asif and Farman, all residents of Meerut districts in Uttar Pradesh were nabbed on July 20, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Airport), Sanjay Bhatia said.
The incident took place on the intervening night of July 12 and July 13 when Mohammad Mehdi Ghanzanfani, a captain with the airline, arrived from Kolkata and was waiting for his company cab at Terminal-1 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport, the officer said.
Unable to locate his cab, Ghanzanfani walked a few metres and arrived at gate number 2 of a metro station near Delhi Cantt area. While he was speaking to his cab driver over phone, a taxi driver approached him, the officer said.
The victim requested the driver to drop him nearby, where his company cab was waiting, for a fare of Rs 100. When Ghanzanfani sat in the taxi, there were already two people besides the driver. After the vehicle crossed Mehram Nagar, they forcibly took his debit cards after threatening him with a knife and asked for their PIN codes, the officer said.
They withdrew Rs 1 lakh using his debit card and took away USD 302 (approximately Rs 20,500) and Rs 12,000 from his wallet and dropped him on Mahipalpur flyover, he said.
The address of the alleged taxi driver was traced and it was found that they had used a fake number plate for their vehicle, he added.
On the basis of technical surveillance, three persons from Merrut were nabbed, Bhatia said.
Interrogation revealed that the three have committed several robberies in Delhi Cantt area and one in Ghaziabad’s Vijaynagar, he said.
Some of the articles of the pilot have been recovered along with the fake number plates and the taxi used in the crime, police said.
