The Delhi Police on Wednesday claimed to have cracked the Rs12 lakh-heist at Rajendra Place metro station on Monday with the arrest of two persons, including a former Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) staffer. The Delhi Police also recovered Rs10.55 lakh from their possession.
“The accused have been identified as Pawan Kumar (21) and Sonu Kumar (22), both residents of Vijay Nagar near Kaushambi in Ghaziabad. They were tracked down with the help of their Metro Smart Card details,” Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) MK Meena said.
Police first tracked down Pawan, a former DMRC employee, with the help of local Intelligence and the Delhi Metro Police. Pawan broke down during interrogation and disclosed the whereabouts of his accomplice Sonu, who was arrested from his residence in Ghaziabad.
Pawan was identified with the aid of the eight digit code of the Metro Smart Card. This code helps the DMRC trace the entire travel history of the Smart Card owner and thus pull out footage of the exact place, time and date the person used the metro network.
“The two men confessed that they entered the Delhi Metro premises with a hidden knife and stabbed the Station Controller before making away with the weekend’s earnings. They later left the premises with the weapon, raising serious security concerns,” said MK Meena.
However, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is entrusted with the security of the Delhi Metro network, claimed the accused were frisked properly before they entered the Rajendra Place metro station.
Pawan, a Business Administration graduate, had been a Token Operator at Delhi Metro. He was sacked from service in 2015 after the DMRC received a complaint against him for embezzling funds and misbehaving with passengers, an official privy to the investigation said.
He said the complaint, based on which Pawan was sacked, was filed by Kunal Kishore, the Station Controller who was stabbed during the robbery.
Delhi Police has however, ruled out the revenge angle for now, as the strike was pre-planned and any Station Controller could have been on duty at that hour.
However, Kishore has not been given a clean chit as yet because he did not raise an alarm after the incident, Meena said.
During the police investigation, it also emerged that Pawan had bagged the job in Delhi Metro by using a wrong address.
The police have recovered Rs 10.55 lakh from the possession of the accused who were arrested in the wee hours of Wednesday, following a series of raids in Delhi and Ghaziabad.
A high-end smart phone which Pawan purchased with the money was also recovered. The duo spent the balance amount in paying off some dues.
Police said Pawan had set up a mobile recharge coupon shop in Ghaziabad’s Vijay Nagar after being sacked from Delhi Metro and Sonu was his regular customer who was also looking for a job and often asked Pawan about job opportunities in Delhi Metro.
Pawan was also in dire need of money as he was under huge debt after his sister’s marriage. The duo soon became friends and allegedly hatched the plan after Pawan told Sonu the security shortfalls in the Delhi Metro network.
While Pawan originally hails from Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh, Sonu hails from Amroha. The case was registered in Raja Garden Metro police station under IPC Sections 394 (Voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), 397 (Robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention.)