Delhi Police have apprehended three individuals connected to the murder of an autorickshaw driver during a robbery, utilising CCTV footage and technical surveillance to track the suspects across Delhi and Haryana.
An autorickshaw driver was stabbed to death and his vehicle stolen during a robbery near Minto Road in central Delhi, with police arresting three accused after a manhunt that tracked their movement across Delhi and Haryana, an official said on Thursday.
The incident was reported at around 5:30 am on April 5, when a PCR call alerted police about an injured man lying near the Shivaji Park bus stand. A police team rushed to the spot and found an unidentified male lying unconscious in a pool of blood on the roadside, with multiple stab injuries on his neck and chest.
The victim was shifted to the LNJP Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead. A medical examination confirmed multiple stab wounds to the chest and anterior neck region. A case was registered at the Kamla Market police station and a probe launched.
A joint team relied on a combination of CCTV footage analysis, technical surveillance and local intelligence to identify and track the accused.
"Extensive scrutiny of CCTV cameras revealed that five men had boarded the victim's autorickshaw near the Nizamuddin railway station on the intervening night of April 4 and 5. Their movement was traced through multiple locations across Delhi, Faridabad and Palwal," the officer said.
Acting on specific inputs, police teams laid a trap for around 12 hours near the Palwal railway station and adjoining areas, leading to the arrest of two accused -- Yogesh (25) and Yogesh alias Rocky (24), both residents of Palwal. Based on their disclosure, a third accused, Somesh (25), was later apprehended from a spot near the Sarai Kale Khan bus stand in Delhi.
"The robbed autorickshaw and a mobile phone of the victim have been recovered. During sustained interrogation, the accused disclosed that they regularly travelled from Palwal to Delhi by night trains to target commuters near railway stations and bus stands. They admitted to committing robbery and assault to fund their drug addiction.
"The accused attacked the driver when he resisted the robbery, stabbed him multiple times and fled with the vehicle and the mobile phone, before returning to Palwal. Efforts are on to apprehend two other accused, Sonu and Vikram," the officer added.