[ Karyir Riba ]
ROING, Oct 2: One Bhaijan Ali, 38, who used to drug his targets and rob them, was arrested by police from Parbuk area of Lower Diabang Valley district on Saturday.
A bag containing eight bottles of fruit juice and 78 suspected psychotropic drug tablets were seized from his possession, informed Investigation Officer (IO) of the case, Inspector Padi Nikang.
A bottle of fruit juice with its cap unscrewed was also seized from him and will be sent for forensic examination to Kolkata, West Bengal, along with the seized tablets, the IO said.
The drugs were reportedly procured from Dimapur.
The police were on the lookout for Ali since June, after an FIR was lodged by one Vijay Tayeng.
The complainant stated that his father had been found in an unconscious state in Meka by some passerby, who brought him to the district hospital here.
The elderly person regained consciousness only after three days of treatment at the hospital.
Later, it was found that an unknown person, who had introduced himself as an army man
on leave, had offered the old man a lift on his motorbike from outside the SBI ATM booth here.
On reaching Meka, the unknown person stopped his bike on the pretext of answering to nature’s call. Thereafter, he offered his victim a bottle of Frooti (mango juice). About fifteen minutes after consuming it, the old man started to feel drowsy, and lost consciousness.
The man robbed Rs 10,000 and a mobile phone from the old man.
The police started their investigation into the case without any lead, and scoured CCTV footages of various areas in and around the town for clues.
In one of the footages, the culprit was seen carrying his victim on his bike. He was wearing a helmet, because of which the police could not identify him. Moreover, the motorcycle involved in the incident had no number plate.
“On Saturday, at around 10 am, IRBn constable Atsol Perme, who was on duty at the Shantipur check gate, identified the culprit as he was wearing the same shirt as was seen in the CCTV footage.
The culprit made a dash to escape, but a police team led by in-charge of the Shantipur check gate, Inspector Mongol Koyu, caught him from Parbuk area and brought him to the Roing police station for interrogation,” the IO said.
The police said Ali’s modus operandi was to move around the ATM, looking for preys. Once he identified a soft target, he would approach them and offer them a ride on his bike.
“Later on in the journey, he would stop his bike after making some excuse, and offer drugged drinks to his would-be victim. He would drink from a sealed bottle himself, while the victim would be offered a drugged drink,” he said.
Nikang informed that the culprit, who hails from Dibrugarh in Assam, has admitted to his crimes. He had robbed three persons in Roing, another three in Tezu, and one in Sadiya, using the same tactic, in the past few months.
According police sources, Ali revealed during interrogation that his main business was to work as a professional ‘bailer’, and that he was used by lawyers in his hometown to bail out offenders from police custody in exchange of money.
The police have appealed to the citizens to not accept any lift, eatables or drinks from any stranger, and to inform about such incidents to the police.
Ali has been booked under Section 392/328 the IPC and remanded to police custody for further interrogation.
The entire investigation was supervised by SP Sanjay Kumar Sain.
