Dehradun Police arrested three persons who are accused of forcibly entering the home of a senior citizen couple in Dehradun.
The trio is accused of keeping the couple hostage on February 22 and issued threats to sell off their property. The accused have been identified as Mahakveer, Baljeet Singh and Shambhu, natives of Bijnor (Uttar Pradesh). Police also recovered a firearm and cartridges from them, said Dehradun SP City Ajay Singh while interacting with media persons on Thursday.
Rest Camp resident AK Goyal had registered a complaint on February 23 stating that he and his wife were at their home when three unidentified persons barged into their home and started beating his wife on February 22. The goons held the couple captive in one room and threatened them at gunpoint to sell off their property, before leaving the scene. Acting on the complaint, a police team led by CO Manoj Katyal began investigation into the case. The police received a tip off about three suspicious characters loitering in Race Course area with an intent to commit crime. The police succeeded in nabbing the trio from a hotel in the said area.
As per police, in the course of interrogation the three men confessed to their crimes and also said that they used to reconnoiter localities looking for homes occupied by senior citizens. They would then target the senior citizens and threaten them to sell off their property. The men also used to take the assistance of local property dealers to sell of such properties. One of the accused, Mahakveer was also reported to be the leader of a criminal gang involved in several crimes in parts of Western Uttar Pradesh and Dehradun apart from other districts of Uttarakhand in the past.
He has been sent to jail on various occasions in the past, said the police.