4 teens held for spate of robberies

The four — two of them are minors — are allegedly involved in over 25 cases,police officials said. The others have been identified as Sanjeev and Saleem,both 19. The two minors had recently escaped from an observation home in North Delhi’s Kingsway Camp after scaling its walls,according to the police.

The police suspect the accused worked with the gang of juveniles recently arrested for a spate of burglaries in South Delhi.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) H G S Dhaliwal said a special team was formed after a series of robberies in the NCR to zero in on the accused. “On Wednesday,the team received specific inputs about their presence in Gurgaon’s Sector-21,” Dhaliwal said. “The four were in a car and were apprehended after a chase.”

Earlier the same day,the four were reportedly engaged in a shootout with a police team in Najafgarh,Southwest Delhi. They had shot at the policemen and managed to escape,police officials said.

On sustained interrogation,the four reportedly told the police that they took to crime since they wanted to become famous criminals. The police recovered eight mobile phones,two countrymade pistols and six ATM cards from their possession.

Police officials said investigations are going on in cases the four were allegedly involved in.

DCP Dhaliwal said the police were verifying whether two of the accused are minors. “They claim they are juveniles but we are verifying,” he said. “They had claimed they were over 18 years while applying for their driving licences.”