In the suburb of Novopetrovskoe village four men dressed in masks broke into the shop «Pyatyorochka» . The tragedy occurred on the night of February, 9.After closing the shop, the female employees locked the proceeds in the cash room safe before leaving. CCTV cameras recorded the attackers entering through the service door and starting to injure the shop employees using axe handles. The robbers took just under a hundred thousand roubles from the cash register. The director of the «Pyatiyorochka» branch and his wife were hospitalised at the scene of the crime. The cashier, a middle-aged woman, died as a result of severe injuries.
After a review of the video and tire treads, the police officers were able to identify and apprehend the intruders. It turned out that after committing the crime, they had fled to their dormitory, 50 kilometres from the Istrinsky Pyaterochka.
Khabibullo Muhamadiyev, Zafar Khudoikulov, Nazirkul Bobokulov and Akbarali Burkhonov – citizens of Tajikistan – have already started testifying. The first two have been remanded in custody at the request of investigators. According to TASS, while in the country, the men were not officially employed and Bobokulov and Burkhonov did not even have Russian registration. An interpreter was present at the court hearing, as not all of the defendants were able to write in Russian.
As of 12 February, it was reported that one of the detainees had recanted his statement and had not admitted guilt. Zafar Khudoikulov claims that he only «was a private driver» . Prior to the night of the crime, he was unaware of the plans of the rest of the men, but had known them since the summer of 2021. According to Khudoikulov, he simply picked up the men and received 4,500 rubles for that.
According to the Investigative Committee, migrants have also confessed to other robberies in the same district. The agency specifies that «in the near future, these criminal cases will be sent to the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for merging into a single proceeding».
Criminal proceedings are currently underway against detainees for «intentionally causing grievous bodily harm resulting in the death of the victim through negligence», as well as under the article on robbery (article 111, part 4, of the Criminal Code and article 162, part 4).
