Auto driver held for robbing 30 passengers over 6 months

The driver of an autorickshaw has been arrested for robbing more than 30 passengers in the last six months. The Danilimda police nabbed the driver, Shabir Aas Mohammed Shaikh (26), a resident of Shah Alam, on Wednesday night on the basis of a tip-off. The police said that he worked along with three accomplices.

Shaikh has confessed to robbing more than 30 passengers over the last six months. He was released by police around six months ago after being held for robbing 129
passengers.

According to the Danilimda police, he worked with a definite modus operandi and targeted mostly single passengers near the railway station and other crowded areas such as bus stands, while his three associates posed as passengers. The four would together rob the passenger when the autorickshaw was in an isolated area.

After Shaikh was released from jail six months ago, he altered  his modus operandi and started keeping tabs on police movement. He kept no definite time for reaching home.

He would mostly go home early in the morning to evade police arrest. The police, moreover, stopped keeping a check on his activities, which led to him becoming careless.

The Danilimda police arrested Shaikh when he reached home at around 9 pm on Wednesday. “Based on a tip-off, we arrested Shaikh from his house, for robbing more than 150 passengers,” said MM Vasava, inspector of the Danilimda police. Shaikh has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including loot and theft.