Robbery at high noon

A gang of six armed men robbed a house in east Delhi of cash and valuables worth Rs 16.5 lakh on Tuesday afternoon, after locking in the family members present, reports HT Correspondent.

A gang of six armed men robbed a house in east Delhi of cash and valuables worth Rs 16.5 lakh on Tuesday afternoon, after locking in the family members present.

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One of the robbers introduced himself as an employee of a courier company at garments trader Devendra Sachdeva’s Krishna Nagar house around half past noon. Sachdeva wasn’t at home then.

When daughter Ashima, to whom the parcel was addressed to, went inside to get her identity card, all six barged into the house and whipped out their weapons.

“They asked Ashima and her mother Sunita to hand over the Rs 1.5 cash kept in the house and jewellery. Then they tied the duo up and locked them in a store-room,” said a senior police officer.

Police suspect the involvement of the family’s former maid Reena, who had been dismissed from her job last Friday.

The police suspect that Reena could have informed the robbers about who all were usually present in the H-Block house during the day and details on the whereabouts and quantity of cash/valuables.

“She probably came on a reconnaissance mission about who all were present in the house,” Sachdeva said.

Later, a neighbour PC Kohli, who happened to arrive at the house, found the doors ajar. He unlocked the storeroom to find the mother-daughter duo.

“The robbers had put the television on at high volume, disconnected the landline phone, damaged a mobile phone, and decamped with Ashima’s mobile phone. Ashima and her mother were crying when they came out,” Kohli said.

The police said two of the robbers were wearing masks. The police are looking for Reena and the other accused men.