British mission staffer’s son, 6 others held for robbery

NEW DELHI - A son of a British High Commission employee here and executives and professionals working in multi-national companies (MNCs) are among seven people arrested for robberies, dacoities and car-jackings in several neighbourhoods in south Delhi, police said Saturday.

Naved Khan, 30, Mohd. Sawez, 21, Kuldeep Tomar, 28, Ravi Kumar, 27, Rahul Pawar, 20, Gagan Deep, 24, and Neeraj, 22, were arrested Friday. Khan and Sawez were arrested in Malviya Nagar and the others in Sheikh Sarai.

Sawez is an MBA from Amity University, Noida, and his father works in the British High Commission. He took to crime to earn a quick buck as he wanted to join his girlfriend settled in the US, police said.

“Khan, a post-graduate in economics, had worked as an executive with various MNCs. Due to recession he had lost his job and was in a live-in relationship. He committed the crimes as he wanted to clear his debts,” said a police official.

Tomar, a post-graduate from Meerut, was pursuing MBA. His father owns two public schools in Baraut, Uttar Pradesh. He was working as an executive with the Essar Group in the capital but his lavish lifestyle and expenses forced him to take to crime, said the official.

According to police, the gang robbed a house Wednesday afternoon in Amar Colony area of south Delhi.

Armed with a pistol and a revolver, they entered the house of non-resident Indian Gurmukh Singh who was present in the house and took away his laptop, a wrist watch, two gold rings and Rs.20,000 cash.

“They also forced him to sign on three blank cheques. One of the accused went to his bank and withdrew Rs.30,000 while the others held him hostage at the house,” the official said.

The accused were also responsible for the recent spate of robberies and car-jacking incidents, police said.

Police received a tip-off Friday that some members of the gang would be arriving near Malviya Nagar. The police barricaded the road and arrested two of them.

“We recovered a pistol and revolver from Khan and Sawez with four live cartridges. Further Interrogation revealed that the others would gather in Sheikh Sarai area. All the accused were arrested the same day and they confessed to their crime,” added the official.