Mumbai The Nehru Nagar police in Kurla East arrested a gang of four for allegedly robbing three taxi drivers at knife point in three separate incidents on Tuesday. Police officials said two of the taxi drivers were robbed at Thakkar Bappa colony, while the third was looted at Amar Mahal junction, a kilometre away on the Eastern Express Highway.
The officials said the accused approached the taxi drivers as passengers and robbed them of cash and valuables at knife point.
Three of the accused have been identified as Sanjay Ujapuria, 19, Lekhraj Padmaraj Nangaliya, 23, and Arjun Raju Bhopariya, 20. Meanwhile, the fourth accused is a minor and all are residents of Chembur.
The first incident occurred around 1.45am on Tuesday. According to the victim, Sukhlal Sav, 46, around 1am he was standing at Marine Drive when four people approached him and hired the taxi for Adarsh Vidyalay at Thakkar Bappa Colony in Chembur. They reached the destination around 1.45pm were supposed to pay ₹400 fare.
“After getting off, the accused started abusing Sav. One of them removed a knife and threatened to kill him if he made noise. They took away ₹1200 cash from his shirt pocket and snatched his mobile phone,” said senior inspector Chandra Shekhar Bhabal of the Nehru Nagar police station.
The same group then targeted their second victim, Satveer Tej Singh, 49, who was heading towards Sion after dropping passengers at Kurla. Again, the four accused asked Singh to drop them at Thakkar Bappa Colony at 2.30am.
As the taxi stopped at the destination, one of the accused removed placed a knife on Singh’s neck, while another punched him in his abdomen. They took his mobile phone and ₹10500 cash from his pocket and fled, said the police officer.
The victim went to Worli and informed the taxi owner and they approached the Nehru Nagar police and registered a case against four unknown persons. As per description given by the victim it looked like the same group had targeted him, said Bhabal.
After robbing Singh, the gang walked towards Amar Mahal Junction and found the third taxi driver, Anis Khan, a resident of Bandra East, waiting on Eastern Express Highway. The accused requested him to drop them to Dadar. While one engaged in a conversation, another accused removed the taxi’s keys and started abusing him. Others then caught his hand and removed his mobile phone and ₹3500 cash from his pocket, said the police officer.
“The modus operandi all three cases were same. We inquired in the area and people identified one of the accused. We nabbed him from his residence. After questioning him we nabbed the other three suspects,” said police sub inspector Omkar Godbole of the Nehru Nagar police station. Looted cash has been recovered from them, added an official.