Three cops suspended for not registering FIR on theft of car used for UP arms robbery

“Soon after the incident, the joint commissioner had asked for an inquiry to be conducted into the matter. The inquiry was completed on Wednesday and it was found that one police inspector and two police sub-inspectors were guilty of not taking cognizance of the offence,” an officer from Amboli police station said. The owner of the car, Feroz Mehboob Khan, had approached the Amboli police on December 5, saying that his Bolero car had been stolen from 90 Feet Road in Oshiwara, the officer said.

“The police sub-inspector (PSI), who was the duty officer, along with another PSI and a police inspector who he informed about the complaint, did not register an FIR. Irrespective of whether one is at the station house or not, if one is aware of information about a cognisable offence, an FIR should have been registered. The failure on the part of the three to do so is the primary count on which they have been found guilty,” the officer added.

The main accused in the robbery, Badruzaman Badshah, had the stolen Bolero modified so that there was a cavity where stolen arms could be hidden. The accused then drove down to Banda in UP on December 10 and robbed the arms showroom. The accused looted firearms — 25 rifles, 17 revolvers, two country-made pistols and 4,146 rounds of bullets — stored it in the cavity inside the stolen car, and fled from the spot.

They were eventually arrested by the Nashik police after they did not pay a petrol attendant in Nashik. So far, the Nashik police have arrested five persons in connection with the case.

After it came to light that the Bolero vehicle was used to carry out the robbery on December 16, the Amboli police registered an FIR in the vehicle theft case. The matter was later transferred to the Anti-Extortion Cell of the crime branch which has so far made five arrests in the case, including three arrests made on Wednesday.

The three — Mehtab Khan, Mohd Siddique and Shehzad Shaikh — were welders who helped make the cavity in the four-wheeler. They were arrested from Sewri by the crime branch.