Outwitting an armed assailant who targeted people using a urinal in Hari Nagar area, the west Delhi police on Friday evening arrested the accused and recovered a pistol from his possession.
The police had mounted a camera on a tree opposite to the urinal few days ago after a case of armed robbery was reported from the spot on Najafgarh Road in the Hari Nagar police station area.
A businessman had stopped for relieving himself and when he went inside the urinal, four assailants forced him to hand over his two mobile phones, gold chain and `15,000 in cash.
“In order to prevent a repetition of the incident, a hidden camera was installed on a tree near the urinal and monitoring was started on a 24x7 basis for several days. The movement of each person was scrutinised. At around 9.30 pm on Friday, a police official noticed that a person was hanging around the toilet for about more than 45 minutes and was frequently entering and coming out”, said DCP (west) V. Renganathan.
“The officer alerted his superiors and a team was immediately dispatched to the spot. The suspect was identified as Jitender alias Pahadi, a resident of Sagarpur. When he was questioned about his motives, he started giving contradictory statements. On frisking him, the officers recovered a loaded countrymade pistol of .315 bore on his person,” the DCP said.
“It is an innovative way of preventing crime and the technique has been perhaps used for the first time in the city,” a senior police official said.
During interrogation, the accused revealed that he was waiting to target someone with a bag or briefcase as a robbery target. The police has booked him under Sections 25/54/59 of the Arms Act.