Punjab: Nepalese servants hold captive owners, decamp with ₹17L

They were aided by three others; jewellery, Innova car, service pistol and three phones also stolen

A Nepalese man and his wife, who worked as domestic helps in a house in White Avenue here, along with their three aides on Sunday decamped with ₹17 lakh and other valuables after making the house owners captive, the police said on Monday.

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Complainant Ravinder Arora aka Ravi (50), who owns a readymade garment shop at Katra Jaimal Singh, here, said, “I had employed a Nepalese couple as domestic helps a week ago. They identified themselves as Santosh Joshi and his wife Divya Joshi and claimed to be residents of New Delhi. My wife (Savita Arora) had gone out of the country. I along with my son Sourab Arora, daughter-in-law Kaviya Arora and their daughter have been living in the house. At around 10 pm on Sunday, my son left the house. I along with my daughter in law and granddaughter, and two other servants were present in the house.”

“At around 11 pm, I heard someone knocking at my room door. As I was going to unlock the door, I heard someone breaking the glass of my door to unlock it. As the door got opened, two-unidentified men overpowered me and Santosh broke the lock of my cupboard. Divya and other unidentified man held my daughter-in-law hostage.” He said.

After managing to escape from the room, I tried to get my licensed pistol from other room when the accused attacked me with screwdrivers, he said.

They robbed ₹17 lakh cash, gold and diamond jewellery, my pistol, three mobile phones and my Innova car and fled the house, added the complainant.

Station house officer (SHO) of Civil Lines Shivdarshan Singh, said “Santosh, Divya and three unidentified men were seen decamping with car and valuables from the house in a CCTV camera. At around 1 am, we received a call from police that an Innova car was parked near Dhariwal town with punctured tires. We took the car in our possession and are continuing with manhunt.”

A case has been registered against Santosh Joshi, Divya Joshi and three unidentified men at Civil Lines police station under Sections 379 (punishment for theft) and 394 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

“We believe the accused have taken shelter in Gurdaspur district. They will be nabbed soon,” said deputy commissioner of police (DCP-Detective) Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar.

“The owners had not got domestic helps’ registration done with the police. People should register the identity of domestic helps with the police before employing them to avert such cases,” he added.