Student-run ‘raftaar’ gang busted, 3 held

Lucknow: Greed for quick money and thrill for speed landed two students and their trader friend in jail on Tuesday.

The trio was part of a gang that had committed multiple loots of chains and purses while zipping past the victims on bikes.

Calling themselves the ‘Raftaar’ gang, the accused used their expertise of driving bikes at high speed in congested and narrow roads for the job. Shekhar Verma, a final-year student pursuing bachelor’s of computer applications in a Noida college, Ashish Mishra, a law student in a private college in Lucknow and Aashay Anand, who runs a medical store in Jankipuram, were arrested near LDA Stadium in Aliganj, said DCP north Sarvshreshth Tripathi.

“The accused confessed that they had formed the gang in 2016 and have been involved in over a dozen loot and snatching cases,” said Tripathi. There are several other gang members who are on the run, he added. “All are in their early 20s and had a deep desire to make big money in less time,” he said. “Apart from loot cases, we have slapped Arms Act against them after recovery of two country-made guns and three live cartridges from them,” he added.