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CASE 153  |  Virendra Malik  |  March 20, 2023  |  India
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DATABASE RECORD
  id                  153
  date                March 20, 2023
  original_date       March 20, 2023
  year                2023
  month               3
  quarter             2023-Q1
  victim              Virendra Malik
  location            Noida, India
  country             India
  scenario            Malicious Invitation - SocialEng
  description         Couple stages robbery to steal bitcoin from their friend, but he doesn't comply.
  kidnappings         1
  violence_torture    1
  drugs_alcohol       0
  weapons             0
  theft               0
  life_taken          0
  money_wanted        (null)
  coin_type           (null)
  reports             IndiaTimes
  notes               fake friends stage a robbery, let themselves be beaten to steal from their victim - investor in crypto. Subjected to beating ,he refused to give access to his wallet
  has_processed_date  1
  created_at          2025-11-13 05:44:45
  (flag legend: 'kidnappings' is the DETENTION flag — 1 when the victim was held against
   their will at any point, tied, locked in, held at gunpoint or taken away; it is NOT the
   same as the 'Kidnapping' scenario, which means taken away and held. See README, Definitions.)

AI SUMMARY  [generated at bulk import, NOT verified against sources]
  **Victim:** Virendra Malik
  
  **Attackers:** Known associate(s) who betrayed victim
  
  **Attack Method:** Malicious Invitation - SocialEng - victim kidnapped
  
  **Violence Used:** Physical violence
  
  **Crypto Stolen:** No theft completed
  
  **Status:** Investigation ongoing

LINKED SOURCES
  [url]  https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/noida-couple-stage-robbery-in-home-to-get-friends-crypto-investment-details-596936.html

NOTES ON THIS FILE
  * matched to sheet row 154: exact match on victim + year, unique on both sides

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ARTICLE 1
  Source   IndiaTimes
  URL      https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/noida-couple-stage-robbery-in-home-to-get-friends-crypto-investment-details-596936.html
  Origin   reported_K&R sheet, row 154, column "Articles"
  Length   3,046 chars
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Noida Couple Stage Robbery In Their Home To Get Friend's Crypto Investment Worth Crores, Arrested
Ajit alias Rahul Singh, his wife Mahi and their accomplice Ankur Payal were arrested. The trio was arrested during the probe of a robbery at the couple's flat in Arania society.

The Noida Police on Thursday arrested three people, including a couple, for staging a robbery in their own flat to get the cryptocurrency of a businessman-friend.

According to the police, the accused have been identified as Ajit alias Rahul Singh, his wife Mahi and their accomplice Ankur Payal.

The trio was arrested during the probe of a robbery at the couple's flat in Arania society in Sector 119 on the intervening night of March 20 and 21.

The couple and their friend, Virendra Malik, a businessman, had filed a complaint at the Sector 113 police station that a group of men had robbed their house and also attacked them.

"The three people had come to the police station in an inebriated condition. They requested a medical test, which showed minor injuries to all three. The next day, they filed a loot complaint," additional deputy commissioner of police (Noida) Shakti Avasthy, said.

How the plot was exposed
However, during the probe, the couple's actions put them under the scanner of the investigators. The cops found that the businessman, Virendra Malik, was invited to their apartment by the couple.


But the breakthrough came after the arrest of their accomplice, Payal, who was caught with their car. Payal told the police that he and the three other men who robbed the flat were entrusted to stage the act by the couple.

Couple knew about friend's crypto investments
According to the police, the couple was going through a financial crisis and they hoped to find a way out of it by robbing their 'friend'.

Police said that Malik had told the couple about his large investments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

The couple then roped in four more people to stage the robbery at their home. During the staged episode, the "robbers" made off with some gold jewellery worn by the businessman and also administered some narcotics, leaving him unconscious for more than 24 hours.

Tried to get crypto details
According to police, a wristwatch, a neck chain, three mobile phones, and Rs 5,800 in cash were robbed from Malik by the assailants who colluded with the couple.

They also asked him for his cryptocurrency details and mobile passwords, which Malik refused to share despite being beaten up.

Couple also beaten up by robbers
The 'robbers' also beat up the couple, probably to allay any suspicion that they were together in the act.

The accused have been booked under IPC sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 394 (causing hurt during a robbery), 506 (criminal intimidation), and sections 34 (act done by several people with common intention), 342 (wrongful confinement).

Police said that three more people, identified as Deepak, Mathu and Anjum, all natives of Meerut who were part of the robbery gang, are still on the run.

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FETCHED ARTICLE 1  [AUTO-TRIMMED — UNREVIEWED]
  !! Furniture was cut by a script keyed on this case's record, not by a person.
  !! It may still carry passages about OTHER cases from a round-up article.
  !! The full page extract is kept in staging/ if a cut needs revisiting.
  Source     indiatimes.com
  URL        https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/noida-couple-stage-robbery-in-home-to-get-friends-crypto-investment-details-596936.html
  Field      url
  Retrieved  2026-09-05T12:51:25+00:00 via raw HTTP retrieval, deterministic extraction (HTTP 200)
  Language   unknown
  Kept       paragraphs headline [0] + 2-19 of 30
  Length     3,052 chars
  Integrity  sha256 98d4eea5320ce15e29ed2599746248ae9aebfc07b09dcdcdcd8bdcd2c9cb9e29
  Trimmed    AUTO-TRIMMED, unreviewed: kept paragraphs 2-19 plus headline [0]; dropped 1 leading and 10 trailing paragraphs. Case-term hits on page: 29.
  Caveat     retrieved from a live page on the date above. Unlike text copied
             from the spreadsheet, there is no second copy to hash it against.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ORIGINAL (unknown, verbatim as retrieved)

Noida Couple Stage Robbery In Their Home To Get Friend's Crypto Investment Worth Crores, Arrested

Ajit alias Rahul Singh, his wife Mahi and their accomplice Ankur Payal were arrested. The trio was arrested during the probe of a robbery at the couple's flat in Arania society.

The Noida Police on Thursday arrested three people, including a couple, for staging a robbery in their own flat to get the cryptocurrency of a businessman-friend.

According to the police, the accused have been identified as Ajit alias Rahul Singh, his wife Mahi and their accomplice Ankur Payal.

The trio was arrested during the probe of a robbery at the couple's flat in Arania society in Sector 119 on the intervening night of March 20 and 21.

The couple and their friend, Virendra Malik, a businessman, had filed a complaint at the Sector 113 police station that a group of men had robbed their house and also attacked them.

"The three people had come to the police station in an inebriated condition. They requested a medical test, which showed minor injuries to all three. The next day, they filed a loot complaint," additional deputy commissioner of police (Noida) Shakti Avasthy, said.

However, during the probe, the couple's actions put them under the scanner of the investigators. The cops found that the businessman, Virendra Malik, was invited to their apartment by the couple.

But the breakthrough came after the arrest of their accomplice, Payal, who was caught with their car. Payal told the police that he and the three other men who robbed the flat were entrusted to stage the act by the couple.

Couple knew about friend's crypto investments

According to the police, the couple was going through a financial crisis and they hoped to find a way out of it by robbing their 'friend'.

Police said that Malik had told the couple about his large investments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

The couple then roped in four more people to stage the robbery at their home. During the staged episode, the "robbers" made off with some gold jewellery worn by the businessman and also administered some narcotics, leaving him unconscious for more than 24 hours.

According to police, a wristwatch, a neck chain, three mobile phones, and Rs 5,800 in cash were robbed from Malik by the assailants who colluded with the couple.

They also asked him for his cryptocurrency details and mobile passwords, which Malik refused to share despite being beaten up.

The 'robbers' also beat up the couple, probably to allay any suspicion that they were together in the act.

The accused have been booked under IPC sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 394 (causing hurt during a robbery), 506 (criminal intimidation), and sections 34 (act done by several people with common intention), 342 (wrongful confinement).

Police said that three more people, identified as Deepak, Mathu and Anjum, all natives of Meerut who were part of the robbery gang, are still on the run.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.

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generated from attacks-export-Gart-website.json + reported_K&R  |  case 153
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