Four unidentified armed assailants allegedly robbed five employees of a money exchange and transport company of Rs 20 lakh on Saturday evening outside Gate No. 3 of Hauz Khas Metro station.
One of the assailants opened fire but the bullet got wedged in the cartridge and fell to the ground, thereby missing its target. Incidentally, a security guard too was travelling with the victims but was unable to open fire. The South district police on Sunday questioned the security guard, who was travelling with the victims.
A senior police officer said that the incident took place at 7.45 pm on Saturday when the victims, including a woman, all employees of D Paul, a money exchange and transport company based in B block Malviya Nagar, were headed to their head office in Malviya Nagar from one of their branches at INA after collecting the day’s earnings of Rs 20 lakh in two bags. The victims were travelling in a Qualis car.
According to police, the victims — RP Sachdeva, senior Manager, Dandi Raj Sharma, the cashier, Harpreet, a gunman Surendra and the driver Manish were headed to INA. “Around 7.30 pm, they reached Gate No. 3 of Hauz Khas Metro station on Ghulam Nasser Road, where they encountered a traffic jam. While waiting, suddenly, the victims claimed, four assailants, all dressed in black, travelling on two motorbikes intercepted them,” the officer added.
The victims told police that the assailants approached them and pointed their guns at them. All of them were carrying pistols on them. “They pointed them at the victims and asked them to hand over the cash. When they refused, one of the accused tried firing. However, the bullet got stuck in the barrel and dropped to the ground. By then, the remaining accused managed to rob the victims of the money and escaped from the spot,” the officer added.
The victim later made a call to the Police Control Room (PCR) and informed police about the incident. After receiving the PCR call, police rushed to the spot and based on the victim’s testimony, a case was registered at Hauz Khas Police Station. Police are suspecting the role of an insider and have, at present, detained Surendra since he did not open fire.