A 33-year-old man wanted in several cases of robbery and snatching has been arrested by the Delhi Police's Crime Branch.
Richhpal was arrested at Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station. He would operate mostly at railway stations. Police recovered a mobile phone, one .315 bore country-made pistol and two live cartridges from his possession.
The arrest follows the complaint of one Dr Pramod Kumar Mishra who was robbed of his wallet, mobile phone and other belongings on March 11 when he was about to board Punjab Mail at around 9.30 pm near Barapulla Jhuggi cluster, police said.
With Richhpal's arrest, the Delhi Police has also issued an advisory asking public to be careful while boarding trains outside stations as many criminals living in hutments and dwellings near those areas rob passengers when trains slows down on their approach to platforms.
On Mishra's complaint, a police team started monitoring the movements of known criminals with similar modus operandi and received secret information on March 15 that a robber would be coming to Platform Number 1 of Hazrat Nizamuddin station at about 3 pm to commit some crime. According to police, the team apprehended Ricchpal from the spot and booked him under the Arms Act.
On interrogation, it was revealed that he has been involved in seven cases of robbery and snatching. The cases against him date back to 1995 but he has not been arrested in any fresh crime since 2006. Police said his associates Sanjay Behanga and Rajesh Babu had been arrested earlier.