How SIM card led cops to robbers

NEW DELHI: Five robbers who had looted a Chandni Chowk businessman of Rs 18 lakh at the old Lajpat Rai market were caught using the SIM card of a phone they had discarded assuming that the police won’t be able to track them. The hunt is on for two more robbers.

The gang was busted after cops reached the owner of the mobile phone, a relative of one of the robbers, in northeast Delhi. A large cache of arms and ammunition and Rs 4 lakh were found on them.

On Monday evening, Mohsin Alam, Md Sarfraz Alam, Amaan, Kasim and Sachin barged into an sanitary shop, tied the hands of one of the employees and stole the cash along with an SBI passbook, a cheque book and a purse. Three criminals had entered the shop while two stayed outside and two more waited on the main road. They even threatened to fire at some people chasing them.


“While combing through the CCTV footage from the area, investigators found a mobile phone lying beside the road,” said DCP (north) Jatin Narwhal. The SIM card was taken by Alam in his relative’s name.

The team managed to track the actual owner after questioning the SIM card vendor.

“He had thrown the SIM card away, presuming that the police won’t be able to track him. He also disclosed the names of his accomplices, who were arrested from different hideouts all over Delhi and Ghaziabad,” said Narwhal.

The police suspect the same gang was involved in robbing another businessman by ramming his car near Shantivan some time ago. The accused themselves claimed to be involved in some other incidents in northeast Delhi as well.