SUV ‘lift and loot gang’ busted; 7 arrested | Lucknow News
Lucknow: Police on Friday claimed to have successfully busted a well-organised ‘lift-and-loot’ gang that used a rented Thar SUV without a number plate to rob unsuspecting passengers.Additional DCP, North Rishabh Runwal said that the gang offered lifts to commuters, assaulted them inside the vehicle, robbed them of cash and valuables, and then pushed the victims out at deserted locations before fleeing. The gang was involved in several robbery cases in Lucknow over the past few weeks.
The arrested persons were identified as Rishabh Goswami (23), Akshay Kumar (25), Alok (19), Shubham Pandey (20), Rishabh Pandey (travel agent), Gyani (20), and Ramsafal Rawat (30). The case came to light after a complaint was lodged on Feb 1 by Hriday Narayan of Kanpur. He told police that while waiting for a vehicle at Hadil Chauraha to return home, he boarded a black Thar after the occupants agreed to drop him in Kanpur for Rs 100. Inside the vehicle were four men who allegedly assaulted him, looted Rs 60,000 in cash and his mobile phone, and later pushed him into a potato field near the ring road before escaping. On Friday, police teams laid a barricade on the service lane near Lodhmao underpass on the Raitha–Kisan Path route. A Thar SUV was intercepted, with four persons on board. During searches, police recovered 2 illegal 12-bore country-made pistols with live cartridges from Rishabh Goswami (23) and Akshay Kumar (25),.
