An IndiGo pilot was allegedly robbed of over Rs 1 lakh by at least three men in a taxi he had boarded near the Delhi cantonment area, police said on Monday. The incident took place in the intervening night of July 12 and July 13 when 60-year-old Mohammad Mehdu Ghanzanfani was waiting for his company’s vehicle, PTI reported.
“Unable to trace his cab, the victim walked a few metres and arrived at gate number 2 of a metro station near Delhi Cantonment area,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) Sanjay Bhatia said. “While he was speaking to his cab driver over phone, a taxi driver approached him.”
Ghanzanfani, a Canadian man of Indian origin, asked the driver to drop him off to a nearby location, where his company’s cab was waiting, and agreed to pay him Rs 100 for it.
At least two more people were already inside the taxi when the pilot boarded it. The accused allegedly snatched his debit cards, and forced him to share their PINs, police said. The thieves withdrew Rs 1 lakh in 10 instalments from his debit card, $302 (approximately Rs 20,000) from his Canadian card and also took Rs 12,000 from his wallet. The men drove around for almost two hours before dropping him off on the Mahipalpur flyover, the complaint said, according to the Hindustan Times.
Police officials said that Ghanzanfani had been flying domestic flights for IndiGo airlines. On Saturday, the pilot approached the domestic airport police and filed a complaint. He also provided the initials and the last four digits of the vehicle’s registration number.
Bhatia said that a case under Sections 386 (extortion), 342 (wrongful confinement), and 34 (common intention) under the Indian Penal Code had been registered on the complaint. “The cab has been identified,” Hindustan Times quoted him as saying. “We have got some definite clues about the suspects. Raids are being conducted to nab them.”
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