MUTTON TRADER ALLEGED ROBBERY

MUTTON TRADER ALLEGED ROBBERY

10-MAY-ENG 6

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

BUXAR------------------------An incident involving the robbery of a livestock and mutton trader from Dumraon at gunpoint was reported on Saturday within the jurisdiction of the Naya Bhojpur police station.

However, the police view the matter with suspicion and have initiated an investigation. In his initial statements, the victim appeared to repeatedly alter his account of events as well as his whereabouts; furthermore, contradictions have emerged in the statements provided by his family members, thereby deepening the police's suspicion regarding the alleged robbery.

An incident involving the robbery of a livestock and mutton trader from Dumraon at gunpoint was reported on Saturday within the jurisdiction of the Naya Bhojpur police station.

However, the police view the matter with suspicion and have initiated an investigation. In his initial statements, the victim appeared to repeatedly alter his account of events as well as his whereabouts; furthermore, contradictions have emerged in the statements provided by his family members, thereby deepening the police's suspicion regarding the alleged robbery. The trader—who initially claimed that ₹15 lakh had been stolen—continuously changed his account during police interrogation, with the alleged stolen amount progressively decreasing until it finally settled at ₹6 lakh. Moreover, significant discrepancies have surfaced between the statements given by the victim and his brother regarding the time, location, and itinerary of the incident.

Consequently, the police are no longer treating this case as a routine robbery but are instead examining it through the lens of suspicion. Raja Qureshi, a mutton trader and resident of Chiktoli in Dumraon, informed the police on Saturday afternoon that armed miscreants had robbed him of his cash on the Ara-Buxar four-lane highway, near the Naya Bhojpur vegetable market. In his initial report, he claimed that ₹15 lakh had been stolen; however, as the interrogation progressed, the figure was first revised to ₹10 lakh and subsequently to ₹6 lakh. These persistent changes regarding the stolen amount have left the police baffled. Raja told the police that he was on his way to Rajpur to purchase goats and was carrying ₹6 lakh—funds he claimed to have borrowed as a loan just two days prior. According to him, while en route, an acquaintance encountered him in a white four-wheeled vehicle and gave him a lift to Naya Bhojpur. There, while he was sitting at a hotel situated along the four-lane highway, three youths riding a Pulsar motorcycle—which bore no license plate—arrived, robbed him of his money at gunpoint, and fled the scene. It is alleged that, shortly thereafter, the miscreants returned and also took his mobile phone. However, the narrative became complicated when his brother, Amjad, gave a different statement to the police. According to Amjad, Raja had gone to Bihiya, and the robbery occurred while he was returning from there. He further stated that an additional sum of approximately ₹7 lakh had been borrowed from relatives in Bihiya, bringing the total amount to ₹15 lakh. Conversely, Raja claims that he had departed from Dumraon for Rajpur around 2:00 PM. Consequently, the police are currently striving to ascertain how the "Bihiya angle" entered the picture.

The investigation also revealed that, at 2:52 PM, Amjad received three missed calls from an unidentified number, following which he was informed about the alleged robbery. The police are now attempting to uncover the truth by analyzing Call Detail Records (CDRs), mobile location data, and CCTV footage. Employees at the hotel where the incident allegedly took place have also been questioned. SDPO Polast Kumar stated that a technical investigation into the matter is underway, and every aspect of the case is being scrutinized with utmost seriousness. The police are also investigating the angle of whether this constitutes a genuine robbery or a fabricated story concocted as part of a larger conspiracy.