Jewellery store robbed by armed assailant in Noida

A jewellery store in Bhangel was robbed by an armed assailant on Sunday evening, after which the accused and his accomplice fled with jewellery worth nearly ₹10 lakh

A jewellery store in Bhangel was robbed by an armed assailant on Sunday evening, after which the accused and his accomplice fled with jewellery worth nearly ₹10 lakh. The police are looking at the CCTV footage.

The SSP and other police personnel outside the jewellery store in Bhangel where the robbery took place. (HT Photo)

The incident occurred around 5pm when the accused walked into Sanjay Jewellers pretending to be a customer.

“Around 5pm, a man who appeared to be in his early twenties came into my store. I was there alone. He asked to see some rings and chains. However, after a while, he took out a pistol and pointed it at my head. He asked me to hand over the valuables,” Sanjay Kumar Verma, the owner of the store, said.

According to Verma, the robber was very polite before he brandished the pistol. “He appeared to be from an educated background. He was wearing a cap to (probably) shield his face from the CCTV cameras and had a light beard as well as a moustache,” he said.

He also said the robber fled with jewellery worth nearly ₹10 lakh. “He took chains and rings that weighed around 300 grams. He came in alone. However, he had an accomplice waiting for him outside with a motorcycle. The two immediately fled the spot. I couldn’t get a good look at the second person, though. Everything happened quickly,” Verma said, adding that he immediately alerted the police.

The owner is a resident of Bhangel and has been running this store for the past five years.

The police said the cameras inside the shop were not working. “Nevertheless, we will look at CCTV cameras of other shops nearby to identify the accused,” senior superintendent of police Ajay Pal Sharma said.

The police further said they were questioning the owner as well as locals to gather more information about the case. “From what we have gathered so far, the accused came in pretending to be a customer and went so far as to almost pay for a ring. While taking out his card, he said that the ring had fallen and when the owner got distracted, he robbed him at gunpoint,” the SSP said.

The police are also on the lookout for the second person who was waiting with the getaway vehicle.

However, by 9pm on Sunday, the police still had not received an official complaint from the owner. No FIR had been registered by the time this paper went to print.

“We are waiting for a formal complaint, following which we will register the FIR,” Rajpal Tomar, station house officer, Phase 2 police station, said.