Interstate robbery busted in UP: 5 held, mastermind injured in encounter over 77 fridges, 40 ACs recovered

LUCKNOW: Unnao Police have cracked a major interstate robbery case involving the looting of a truck carrying 77 refrigerators and 40 air-conditioners after its driver was assaulted and left injured on the roadside. Five accused, including the alleged mastermind, have been arrested and a large part of the stolen consignment has been recovered, police said on Saturday. The case came to light after transporter Rajesh Kumar Gupta lodged a complaint at Ajaiganj police station on May 28. According to the complaint, truck driver Neeraj Kumar, a resident of Fatehpur, had left Asha Kheda in Sohramau on the night of May 25 with a consignment of Godrej appliances destined for Kanpur. However, GPS tracking later showed the vehicle moving back towards Lucknow. Shortly afterwards, the GPS signal went dead. When company representatives reached the last tracked location near a toll plaza, they found the driver lying injured. A case was registered against unidentified persons, and a joint investigation was launched by the Special Operations Group (SOG), surveillance team and Ajaiganj police. During the probe, police examined CCTV footage and toll records and found that the gang had altered the truck’s registration number from NL-01 AH-7041 to NE-01 AH-7044 to avoid detection. Investigators tracked the vehicle’s movement along the Purvanchal Expressway and found that toll payments had been made in cash. Surveillance teams also traced two mobile numbers whose movements matched that of the stolen truck. The phones were eventually located in Kasia town of Kushinagar district. Acting on the lead, police conducted a raid at Swastik Dhaba in Kasia and arrested four accused after matching their identities with photographs obtained from toll plazas. The arrested accused were identified as Vikas Valmiki (19) of Badaun, Raju Singh alias Balram Singh (36) of Kushinagar, Avinash Singh (30), owner of Roshni Electronics in Kasia, and Vivek Mishra (22), operator of Swastik Dhaba. During questioning, the accused revealed that part of the stolen consignment had been sold to Roshni Electronics. Police recovered 47 Godrej refrigerators and all 40 Godrej 1.5-ton split air-conditioners, amounting to 127 cartons of stolen goods. The looted container truck was later recovered from near a petrol pump in Motihari, Bihar. Based on information provided by the arrested men, police launched a search for the gang’s alleged mastermind, Chhotan alias Chhuttan Chaudhary (25) of Motihari. Police said he was intercepted near Chandigarh University on Gurudwara Road, where he allegedly opened fire at the police team. In retaliatory firing, he sustained a bullet injury to his right leg and was arrested. Inspector General of Police, Lucknow Range, Kiran S praised the coordinated efforts of the police teams. She said, “The case was solved through meticulous analysis of CCTV footage, GPS data, toll records and mobile surveillance. The recovery of the stolen goods and arrest of all key accused reflect the effectiveness of technology-driven policing and coordinated field operations.” The reward announced for the police team was increased in stages by senior officers and finally raised to ₹1 lakh. Police said preliminary checks have not revealed any criminal history of the accused, though further investigation is underway to ascertain whether they were involved in similar offences elsewhere.