Bus driver, conductor held for robbing passengers

NEW DELHI: A driver and a conductor of a private bus were arrested for robbing several passengers en route to Patna.

The men would stop anywhere in south Delhi and offer people lifts to UP and Bihar. Once they managed full occupancy, they would drive to a desolate location, lock the gates and rob passengers at knifepoint and dump them before escaping.

The accused had robbed a group of youths from Bihar in this way a few days ago. They later filed a police complaint.

DCP (southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said they received a complaint from seven passengers who claimed that they were offered a ride at a cheaper rate. After travelling a few kilometres, the accused stopped the bus near Shahdara and robbed them. The conductor even threatened to hit anyone with an iron rod if they resisted.

A case of robbery was registered at the Sunlight Colony police station. The passengers had noted the number of the bus and provided a description of it to the cops. “We formed a team to track the men down, and on the basis of the description, tracked the bus to Anand Vihar railway station and arrested both the driver and the conductor,” said DCP Biswal.

The driver, Jitender Singh Porwar (34) and the conductor, Amit (24), told the cops they were residents of Rudraprayag and were driving the bus registered against a travel agent H K Choudhary, based in UP. Police also recovered stolen cash from them.

The men told the cops that they were addicted to drinking and would target people who would come looking for jobs to the city.