Unidentified robbers looted cash and jewellery worth over `40 lakh from a building contractor’s home in Ghaziabad. The suspects, police say, had wind of a large amount of cash being kept in the house.
The incident occurred on Saturday evening in Vikram Enclave residential locality under Sahibabad police station.
The police said four robbers barged into Plot No 77, Vikram Enclave, Shalimar Garden. The house is owned by building contractor Shahid, son of one Allah Noor.
At about 4.00 pm, Shahid’s son responded to the doorbell. The men waiting outside barged in and swiftly took three members of the family- Shahid, his wife Saira Bano and son Soyab, hostage at gunpoint.
The family members initially tried to resist the loot but had to give up after the robbers put pistols to their heads and told them that they had shot at a person outside the house before entering. They showed blood-stained footprints to scare the family into believing them. The robbers then managed to force the family to give up all the valuables —including cash and jewellery — kept in the house.
The man, who was shot at outside, was later identified as Jugal Kishore, who was rushed to GTB Hospital. Doctors attending to him said his condition is critical.
The robbers were aware that the family had sold a plot of land earlier in the day and that they had `35 lakh in cash from that transaction. They threatened the family to hand that over. When the family surrendered all of the cash, the robbers asked the wife to take off her jewellery and hand it over. She had to comply and the robbers took away jewellery worth about `5 lakh.
After taking away all the available valuables- cash and jewellery worth about `40 lakh from the house, the robbers escaped after bolting the house from outside. The family then cried out to neighbours for help, who opened the house and informed the police.
“The incident occurred after the information leaked to the robbers that the victim was executing a sale deed of a plot. The police are investigating the case and would solve it at the earliest,” said SP City Shiv Shankar Yadav.