The suspicion aroused in police soon after a cash collector of a company alleged to have been robbed of about Rs 24 lakh by miscreants who threw chilli power in his eyes on Kalidas Road was confirmed following a probe. The complainant Ashutosh Gupta was arrested along with two others in connection with the case.
Police said that Gupta himself along with his two friends had enacted the roadside robbery drama to put a blinder on the police and to digest the money belonging to the company Gupta is working in.
Dehradun SSP Nivedita Kukreti said on Friday that the cash collector of the company Ashutosh Gupta of Ramnagar Mohalla, lakhibagh had himself mastermind the plan while he later told police a concocted story of being robbed while responding to nature’s call by a duo which snatched away the bag containing the money after throwing chilli power on his eyes somewhere on Kalidas Road. “The other two arrested are Srikant Bansal and Ankit Dheeman, both neighbours of Ashutosh,” she added.
SSP further said that CCTV footages in the neighbourhood reviewed by the police team, formed to investigate the case, has helped them crack the case. Police said that the statements of the complainant varying from time to time during interrogation had aroused suspicion.
When pressure was put on him he broke down and confessed to having hatched the plan himself to get hold of the company’s money with assistance from two of his neighbours, police said.
Gupta is believed to have told police that he was annoyed with the meagre amount he was receiving as salary from the company while Ankit and Srikant were unemployed and poor.
As the money of the company to be looted was insured company might not suffer any loss, Gupta is said to have told police during questioning.