New Delhi, February 26 Seven members of an armed gang, including its leader, have been arrested for allegedly robbing a college student at gunpoint after he was lured through a fake cryptocurrency deal in west Delhi's Paschim Vihar, police said on Thursday.
The complainant, a B.Tech student of a government college in Dwarka, recently received a scholarship of Rs 2 lakh and planned to invest in cryptocurrency.
He contacted a social media account offering USDT at discounted rates and fixed a meeting, police said.
The accused targeted buyers of USDT (a cryptocurrency) through fake social media pages offering digital currency at discounted rates and then robbed them during the in-person meeting, the complainant told police.
A PCR call was received at the Paschim Vihar East police station on February 22 regarding a robbery involving Rs 1.83 lakh near the Paschim Vihar East Metro Station.
According to the complainant, when he reached the spot with two friends, one of the accused allegedly entered his car and brandished a pistol, police said.
He told police that then five to six accomplices surrounded the vehicle, robbed him of Rs 1.83 lakh before fleeing.
During the investigation, police analysed CCTV footage and technical evidence, leading to the arrest of the accused from Narela, Rohini and Sadar Bazar on Tuesday.
The leader, Amit Jain (31), allegedly created fake social media pages after suffering heavy business losses abroad.
Police have recovered Rs 1.45 lakh in cash, a pistol with three live cartridges, a car, a motorcycle, a scooter, a laptop and 11 mobile phones used in the crime.