By ARUN PRATAP SINGH
DEHRADUN, 7 May: An army man accused of robbery in front of SBI Bank, located on Shimla Bypass Road, under the Thana Patel Nagar area, has been arrested by the Dehradun Police from a hotel in Dwarka, Delhi. It may be recalled that an elderly man had been robbed of Rs 3 lakhs in broad daylight by putting chilli powder in the victim’s eyes two days ago. Taking action in the case, the police arrested the accused from a hotel located in Dwarka, Delhi within two days. The police got only Rs 45,000 from the looted amount from the possession of the accused. It is being told that he spent the rest of the amount in IPL betting. The accused who robbed 3 lakhs in Dehradun has been identified as Satendra Jat (27), son of Rajkumar. The accused is originally from Jojo Khurd Bhiwani in Haryana.
While disclosing the robbery, Dehradun Police said that the accused who had robbed 3 lakh from the elderly, was a soldier named Satyendra Jat and was from Jat regiment. He was currently posted in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. Not only this, it was also revealed in the investigation of the police that the accused Satyendra had become addicted to betting related to IPL tournament for a long time. He had become debt ridden and he carried out the robbery of Rs 3 lakhs due to this addiction towards IPL betting.
According to the Dehradun Police, the accused revealed during interrogation that he had lost his savings and even loan amount to the tune of Rs 40 lakhs in lPL betting. The compulsion to return the money led him to turn a robber. He came to Dehradun with the intention to make quick money. After coming to know that Radha Krishna Nainwal was withdrawing money from SBI Bank located on Shimla Bypass Road, he purchased chilli powder from a grocery store located near the bank branch. As soon as the victim was trying to sit in the car carrying a bag of money, Jat snatched the bag from him and threw chilli powder in his eyes and fled from the scene.
During the interrogation, Satyendra further admitted that a few days ago he cheated a person from Haryana and had brought him to Dehradun by promising admission in Indian Military Academy as a cadet. Under the pretext of getting him this job, he took an amount of Rs 7 lakhs from him. This money too he lost in IPL betting.
Dehradun DIG Janmejaya Khanduri told that after the robbery from the elderly, about 225 CCTV cameras were scanned by the Police and his images captured in the CCTV cameras were then searched for his ID. The Police came to know through an informer that the accused had stayed in a local hotel, from where the actual ID of the accused was found out and he was identified. During the investigation the Police found that he was staying in a hotel in Dwarka in Delhi from where he was today arrested.
It may be recalled that of late, crime rate in Dehradun has gone up and the Police have not been able to catch culprits in a number of such cases and therefore, was facing the ire of senior Police officers as well as of the government. This robbery case has however been solved and the culprit arrested within two days.