Manager of a liquor manufacturing company was robbed of Rs 12 lakh in Rachna Tower, building has flats, owned by senior politicians.
Two miscreants entered the liquor company's office operated in a flat here and threatened the manager with a gun and escaped with a bag full of money.
The police registered a case and started searching for the miscreants. The crime branch team also reached the spot while CCTV camera footage was scanned.
According to the police, the liquor company's office is being operated illegally in Rachna Tower. The senior flat Senior MIG 108 in which the office is located belongs to former MLA Santosh Sahu.
Govindpura police said that two people reached the liquor company's office at around 8.30 am on Wednesday. They knocked on the door. When the door did not open, they called out the name of liquor company employee Virendra Gupta.
After this, 63-year-old manager Shyam Sundar Jaiswal opened the door. The miscreants asked about Virendra Gupta. On this, Shyam Sundar made both of them sit inside the office.
When the miscreants asked for water to drink, Shyam Sundar headed towards the kitchen. As soon as he turned, the miscreants took out a gun and pointed it at his back. Then they started asking about the cash kept in the office. They threatened to kill him if he did not tell them.
The manager said that the money was kept on the first floor of the flat. The miscreants took him to the first floor and picked up the bag full of money and pushed Shyam Sundar and escaped with money.
The police have started the search for the miscreants after recording the statement of the manager.
ACP Deepak Nayak said that at the time of the robbery, there were four employees in the flat including manager Shyam Sundar. Shyam Sundar went to open the gate without informing the other employees sleeping in the room. Three employees were sleeping during the incident.
The accused stayed in the flat for over 15 minutes. They had locked both the rooms in which the young men were sleeping. After the incident, the manager woke up the three companions inside by making noise. Both the locked rooms were opened and the accused were searched in the building. After this, the police were informed.
Former BJP MLA Ajit Singh, who lives in Rachna Tower, said that most of the flats in the building have been rented out through brokers. Many flats are being used commercially. Complaints regarding this have been made several times to the local police including the Housing Association. Neither the police nor the Housing Association paid attention here. The CCTV cameras of the colony have also been shut down for two days.
The DCP said that instructions have been given to the responsible persons to get the tenants verified. It is also being checked whether the tenants of the flat where the robbery took place were verified or not.
Vijendra Gupta, a manager of a liquor company, lives in another flat of this building. Two days ago, there was an attempted robbery with Vijendra in front of the main gate of the colony. He went to the police station to complain about it, since the accused failed to snatch the bag, the police returned him from the police station without registering a case. At the time of this incident, Vijendra had Rs 8 lakh.
Shyam Sundar Jaiswal is originally from Bhilai, Chhattisgarh. He has been living in Rachna Tower for the last two years in connection with the liquor contract. His company has three liquor shops in the city.
The account of the daily collection of the shops is in the hands of Shyam Sundar and Virendra Gupta. The collection money is brought to this flat. Both the managers also decide in which bank account this amount is to be deposited.
The flats in Rachna Tower have been constructed by the Housing Association. Initially, the condition of selling flats was kept for MPs and MLAs. After this, MPs, MLAs, ministers, former MLAs, former MPs had booked flats here. However, many flats remained vacant even after the booking done during the construction of the flats.