Immigration agent robbed of ₹3.5 lakh at gunpoint in Chandigarh

Four masked men knock at victim’s door, make forced entry, leave with only cash

Four masked men robbed nearly ₹3.5 lakh at gunpoint from an immigration agent after forcibly entering his first-floor flat at Sector 63 after Friday midnight.

Victim Anil Sood showing the cupboard where he had kept the cash at his flat in Sector 63, Chandigarh, on Saturday. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

Police said the victim, Anil Sood, alias Guru, 28, is a partner at Sunshine Immigration firm in Sector 44.

Narrating the sequence of events to the police, Sood said someone knocked at his door at 12:45am. When he opened the door, he saw four masked men standing outside. Before he could react, one of them pointed a pistol at his head, and forced his entry inside, while the others followed him.

The men first collected his three mobile phones and then questioned him where the cash in the house was. “Fearing for my life, I told them about the money lying in the almirah of one of the bedrooms,” Sood said.

The men then entered the bedroom, where Sood’s fiancee was asleep, and took nearly ₹3.5 lakh in cash from the almirah. Before leaving around 1am, they locked the couple in a toilet.

“As they left, the couple screamed for help, and were rescued by the neighbours and security guard, who also sounded the police,” said Neha Yadav, assistant superintendent of police (ASP), south.

The ASP said only one of the robbers was armed with a silver pistol, as claimed by Sood. “They knew their way around the flat and the escape route, and took only the money, leaving all valuables behind. Their last mobile location was traced to Mohali,” the official added.

Police said Sood had taken the flat on rent at the Chandigarh Housing Board society around five months ago. The money stolen was paid by a client, who aspired to go abroad.

Investigating officials said there were several complaints against Sood’s immigration firm, and in the past, some clients had even held a protest outside the company’s office over a dispute of ₹6 lakh.

Acting on Sood’s complaint, police registered a case under Section 392 (robbery) of the Indian Penal Code at the Sector 49 police station. Police are scanning nearby CCTV cameras for leads to trace the accused.

ARMED ROBBERIES THIS YEAR

DECEMBER 2: Four men on two bikes snatched ₹8 lakh at gunpoint from a collection agent near TDI City on the Airport Road

NOVEMBER 8: An employee of a liquor vend in Kanauli village, Chandimandir, was robbed of ₹15,000 at gunpoint by two masked men after he refused to sell them whiskey

NOVEMBER 1: Three masked men looted ₹6,000 at gunpoint from a petrol pump in Mauli village of Raipur Rani. The men asked for petrol worth ₹700 for their bike, and suddenly brandished a revolver

MAY 15: The owner of Diva Jewellery Store at Sector 44 was beaten up and robbed of jewellery at gunpoint

MARCH 9: Two men on a bike robbed a scooterist of ₹5 lakh after shooting him in the thigh near the Sector 52/53 roundabout.