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Trader couple held hostage in house in Lucknow; cash worth several lakh robbed
Three armed men entered the house of wholesale trader posing as LMC (Lucknow Municipal Corporation) and committed robbery
Three armed assailants posing as LMC employees robbed cash and valuables worth several lakh after holding a trader couple and their two domestic helps hostage at their house in a crowded residential locality under Madiaon police station limits here on Saturday morning, said police officials.
As per police report, the three men posing as LMC (Lucknow Municipal Corporation) employees entered the house of trader Rishi Gupta in Shyam Vihar colony at around 11am. They held Gupta, his wife Shalini and their two domestic helps hostage.
Rishi Gupta, who is into wholesale business of disposable plates and bowls made of leaves and supplies it to several districts adjoining Lucknow, told police that assailants took away ₹15 lakh cash and valuables worth several lakh.
“Gupta will submit a detail list of the robbed items later. The police have registered an FIR under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 392 for loot and 506 for criminal intimidation against unidentified assailants and further investigation is on,” said additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP), North, Prachi Singh.
Singh said the trader further informed the police that the assailants sat along with him in the drawing room after entering the house and suddenly took him and his wife on gunpoint. One of them even attacked his wife with knife when she tried to resist. She even suffered minor injuries on her right hand.
“The assailants then locked the duo along with their two domestic helps in a room and snatched their mobile phones. The assailants searched the house for around 30 minutes and fled after collecting cash and valuables from an almirah kept in their bedroom. They even switched off the couple’s mobile phones before leaving the house,” the police official said.
The hapless family raised an alarm following which they were rescued by their neighbours after nearly an hour of the incident.
Joint commissioner of police (JCP), law and order, Neelabhja Chowdhary said multiple teams have been formed to work out the case at the earliest.
He said the police were trying to prepare sketches of the suspects on the basis of information shared by the victims and scanning footages of CCTV cameras installed in the vicinity.
