Ghaziabad: ‘Patients’ arrive at clinic, escape with Rs 5 lakh after holding doc, family at gunpoint

They asked him to open the vault fitted with biometric security and took out nearly Rs 5 lakh

In a daylight robbery, six armed men arrived on Tuesday morning at the clinic-cum-residence of a neurologist in Vasundhara and fled with nearly Rs 5 lakh from the biometric security-enabled cash vault in the house. The police said the three men posed as patients to enter the ground-floor clinic.

Police at Dr Neeraj Agarwal’s clinic-cum-residence in Sector 2C, Vasundhara, on Tuesday. (Sakib Ali /HT Photo)

It was around 9.50am when three men walked into the clinic of Dr Neeraj Agarwal, a consultant neurologist, in Sector 2C in Vasundhara residential locality. The ‘Ayush Clinic’ is located on the ground floor while the family resides on the first floor.

“They came in and asked the doctor to treat one of them for headache. Later, they pointed a gun at the doctor and took him to the first floor residence. There, they asked him to open the vault fitted with biometric security and took out nearly Rs 5 lakh. They stayed in the house for nearly 30 minutes while their accomplices waited outside on two motorcycles,” said Akash Tomar, superintendent of police (city).

According to the police, it seemed that the robbers had information that they could find a large amount of cash at the doctor’s residence.

On the first floor, only the elderly parents of the doctor were present. His wife, Dr Surabhi Agarwal, a consultant gynaecologist, and the children had gone out.

“I was not at home, but my husband, in-laws and domestic help were there. No one was injured during the robbery. We just asked them to take whatever they wanted. They came posing as patients and we are unable to identify them. They were wearing helmets and later took them off. They also broke the CCTV cameras and took away the DVR (camera recording),” said Dr Surabhi Agarwal.

“They held my husband at gunpoint, took him to the first floor and made him open the vault. He opened it as he did not want them to turn violent. They locked everyone in a room before they left,” she said.

Sources said the doctor engaged the robbers in a calm manner and cooperated with them. He even handed them his handkerchief with which the robbers tied up his hands before fleeing the house.

According to police sources, the men had come on two Apache motorcycles — one white and the other black. The men were captured on a CCTV camera installed nearby. The police sources said one of the robbers was also identified when a driver and a mechanic came to the clinic after seeing it closed.

“It is suspected that the robbers performed a recce of the clinic and knew about the CCTV cameras and the cash vault. They must have visited the clinic earlier, too, posing as patients. During the robbery, they switched off all the mobile phones of the family and also took away an iPhone,” a police officer said.

The men held the family members hostage for nearly 30 minutes and walked away as easily as they had come.

“We have formed teams to trace the culprits. They spoke in a local dialect and seemed to be from nearby areas. In all, we have information about six men. Our teams have launched a search for them. They must have been in a hurry as they left behind a packet containing nearly Rs 1 lakh, which was given by the doctor to his father for depositing in the bank,” Tomar said.