The main accused owed money to the other two.Ghaziabad: Three men were arrested on Thursday for staging a robbery of Rs 30 lakh and lodging a false complaint about it at Modinagar police station.The accused, Praveen Kumar Gupta (42), Ayush Singh (22) and Mohmad Zaihab (26), are all residents of Meerut. Police said the plan was hatched because Praveen, a property dealer, owed money to Ayush, his employee, and Zaihab, a businessman.According to DCP (rural) Surendra Nath Tiwari, police received information around 9.15pm on Tuesday that two bike-borne men had stopped the accused’s car on Hapur Road near Bakharwa Gate and robbed them of Rs 30 lakh at gunpoint. Following this, a team from Modinagar police station reached the spot, recorded statements of the three and filed a case based on a written complaint by Praveen. An investigation was initiated.“During investigation, police found the complainant and his two associates had planned the robbery themselves and tried to report it on the police helpline multiple times, before succeeding to do so on Hapur Road. The first attempt was made in Meerut itself, near a CNG gas petrol pump at approximately 7.30pm, but the area was too crowded for it to be believable. After that, they wanted to stage the incident near Mohiuddinpur metro station but again could not do it due to traffic,” the DCP said.Subsequently, they drove the car towards Hapur Road and on an isolated stretch, reported the “crime”. Zaihab even threw a stone at the rear end of the car to show it was damaged by the “robbers”, the officer said.“Police found that as part of his business, Praveen had received money from a buyer in Meerut that was to be given to a seller in Delhi. However, instead of paying the seller, Praveen distributed some of the money to the people he owed and reported the rest of it as robbed, so that he could keep it for himself. His condition to Ayush and Zaihab was that they would have to help stage the fake robbery,” Tiwari said.According to the plan, Praveen facilitated a deal in which the buyer was a resident of Baghpat Road in Meerut while the seller was from Safdarjung Enclave in New Delhi. Then he told the buyer he would take the money to the seller in Delhi himself, allowing him to stage the robbery, the officer said.
