The six youngsters’ luck, however, ran out on Sunday night when the police, acting on a tip-off on a possible strike, arrested them from near Lado Sarai park in South Delhi. The six have been identified as Umesh Yadav (alias Soni), Sushil Paswan, Altaf Alam, Naushad Khan, Mahendra Kumar and Nisar Khan. All in the age group of 18 to 25, they are residents of Sangam Vihar, South Delhi, the police said.

The six have told the police during interrogation that they did not find much success in stopping cars at intersections as ‘men’, an officer said. The accused have told their interrogators that they realised people stop and offer rides to women more easily, especially at night, therefore the unique strategy, a senior officer said.

According to the officer, the accused have revealed that two or three of them would try to flag down a car and seek a ride. Once a driver stopped, the officer said, they would get in and first divert his mind while the latter sped on. “Then, suddenly, they would pull out knives and threaten him to hand over everything,” the officer said.

The police have recovered knives the gang members purportedly used in the crimes and several pairs of women’s clothes (salwar suits and saris among others) along with a pair of wigs.

On Sunday night, the police laid a trap in Lado Sarai and held them as the gang members tried to flag down a car near the park, the officer said. A case of robbery has been registered against the six at Saket police station, and the officer said they have confessed to committing at least two robberies till now.