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Nepalese help, accomplices steal cash, jewellery from Ludhiana house
Sedate elderly couple, security guard and minor help while the couple’s son was away at Model Town.
Hired two months ago, a Nepalese domestic help, along with his two accomplices, stole cash and gold jewellery after sedating an elderly couple in their 70s in the city’s posh Gurdev Nagar locality on Wednesday night.
The accused, Khem Bahadur, also sedated the security guard of the house and another 11-year-old domestic help before fleeing with the booty. He and his two accomplices were captured in the CCTV camera installed outside the house.
The couple’s son, Sandeep Ghai, an industrialist who runs a hosiery factory, was away at his relatives’ house in Model Town with his wife and children when the theft was executed.
While Ghai has yet to provide exact details of what was stolen from the house, sources in the police said around Rs 24 lakh and 500gm of gold jewellery were missing.
According to investigators, the family had not got Bahadur verified through the police before employing him.
MIDNIGHT THEFT
Ghai came to know about the incident around 2am when he returned home with his wife and kids.
He told the police that he had employed Bahadur through the reference of a worker at his factory around two months ago.
On Wednesday, while leaving for his relatives’ house in Model Town for dinner, he instructed his domestic helps – Bahadur and 11-year-old Munish Kumar, and the security guard not to allow anyone’s entry in the house.
On his return, he was shocked to find the security guard lying unconscious. As he entered the house, he found Munish collapsed on the floor with a head injury inflicted by a blunt weapon. He frantically rushed to his parents’ room and found them also unconscious and the house completely ransacked.
Ghai alerted the police and rushed the four people to a private hospital, where they are stated to be stable.
Police and a forensic team arrived at the scene soon after for clues. As per preliminary investigation, the accused may have served the elderly couple, the guard and the child eatables laced with sedatives. However, police are waiting to record the victims’ statements to ascertain what happened exactly.
“The factory worker who referred Bahadur quit his job soon after due to the Covid-19 outbreak. We have not ruled out his involvement in the crime,” said assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Harpal Singh.
Multiple teams had been despatched to arrest the three accused, he added.
The Division Number 5 police have lodged an FIR against the three accused.
REWARD ANNOUNCED FOR INFO
Police commissioner Rakesh Agrawal has announced cash reward for information on the accused. The police chief assured that the identity of the informer will be concealed.
Investigators said the CCTV footage showed Bahadur and his two accomplices entering the house around 10.30pm and leaving around 12.30am.
