Help robs businessman's house

Skipping the Delhi Police's servant verification procedure once again proved to be costly for a Delhi resident. HT reports. Helpers or conspirators?

Skipping the Delhi Police's servant verification procedure once again proved to be costly for a Delhi resident.

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A 20-year-old domestic help, along with his three accomplices, allegedly robbed at gunpoint the house of his employer, a businessman, in south Delhi's posh Gulmohar Park, on Tuesday night.

According to police, the help, Chandan, gave his accomplices a friendly entry into his employer's house. The accomplices then tied up the businessman's wife and his son and locked them in separate rooms before decamping with cash and valuables worth around Rs. 11 lakh. The robbers stayed in the house for around one-and-a-half-hour hours.

Before leaving the house, the robbers threatened the businessman's wife that they would kidnap her son if she did not keep Rs. 10 lakh in cash at Gate No 9 of Gulmohar Park within a week.

In order to mislead the investigators, a police officer said, the robbers also tied up the help and locked him in a room. Investigators, however, got suspicious and subjected Chandan to sustained interrogation, during which he confessed his involvement in the crime.

Chandan was arrested and at his instance, his three accomplices, who formed their gang while staying in jail in different cases, were arrested with the booty from their rented accommodation in Jaitpur, the officer said.

The arrested robbers were identified as Vicky alias Raj Kumar, Mohammad Shabir and Sunny alias Raju Singh. Another domestic help, who had recommended Chandan to the businessman, was also arrested.

Chhaya Sharma, DCP (south), said the three robbers with their faces covered entered Sumeet Singhal's house at around 8.30 pm, when he had gone out to meet his friends in Vasant Vihar.

"They held Singhal's wife Ritu and 10-year-old son hostage at gunpoint and ransacked the house," said Sharma.

Modus operandi
The plan, an investigating officer said, was hatched by Vicky, a domestic help arrested in 2008 for his involvement in the robbery and murder case of his employer and his wife in Neeti Bagh. Vicky met Shabir and Sunny in jail, where they formed a gang.