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Ludhiana: Woman held hostage inside house, robbed of cash, jewellery
Police suspect the role of someone known to the family as the robbers seemed to be well-versed with the family members’ schedule. The husband of the woman says they have lost cash and jewellery worth about ₹30 lakh.
Two miscreants held a woman hostage in her house in Indira Colony of Ludhiana and took away ₹2.50 lakh cash and jewellery in broad daylight on Thursday.
The accused allegedly overpowered the woman, identified as Sapna, at knifepoint and locked her up in the bathroom after tying her hands and legs with a rope.
Her husband, Ashwani Kumar, 51, who is the complainant in the case, said that he owns a home décor store on Gill Road. The couple lives alone in the house as their two daughters are married and son is the US for studies.
He said he leaves for work around 9am everyday and returns home around 7.30pm. In the afternoon, his worker visits the house to fetch his lunch.
Kumar said that on Thursday afternoon, around 3.30pm, his worker, Mishri Lal, went to his house to bring the lunch. After Lal left home, two unidentified men barged into the house, bolted the main door from inside and overpowered his wife. They then tied her hands and legs with a rope, locked her up in the bathroom and scurried around the house to look for valuables.
Kumar said the accused took away a gold bracelet, gold bangles, earrings, diamond sets and rings, besides ₹2.5 lakh cash. He said that in all, they have incurred a loss of around ₹30 lakh.
After the robbers fled the scene, Sapna managed to untie herself and come out of the bathroom through a second exit. She then rang up Kumar and narrated the entire episode, following which he informed the police.
According to Sapna, one of the accused was a bearded man of short height while the other one was tall.
The Model Town police have registered a case against two unidentified persons under Section 454 (lurking house trespass) and 380 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code.
Deputy commissioner of police (DCP, investigation) Simratpal Singh Dhindsa said police suspect the involvement of some acquaintance of the family as the accused were well aware of the daily schedule the family members.
Police have also managed to get hold of a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage, in which the accused were seen escaping with the cash and jewellery.
